Norway’s Internal Security Service (PST) has warned of a risk of sabotage and said it expects Russia to expand its intelligence operations in Norway, Reuters reports.
Norway, a backer of Ukraine and Europe’s largest supplier of natural gas through pipelines, is increasingly concerned about the threat posed by Russian intelligence to its energy infrastructure, both physical and cyber.
The PST’s annual risk assessment report said that Russian intelligence activity is expected to increase in 2026, continuing to focus on military targets, allied training, Norway’s support for Ukraine and operations in the northern regions and the Arctic. The Russians are particularly interested in the northern regions of Norway and Svalbard, so the risk there is higher.
Russia is also likely to continue spying on civilian ships along the Norwegian coast,
which is riddled with fjords, to map critical infrastructure.
NATO member Norway shares a border with Russia in the north of the country and monitors Russian military activity in the North Atlantic and on the Kola Peninsula. Russia’s Northern Fleet and much of Moscow’s nuclear weapons are based there.
In August 2025, the PST linked a cyberattack on a hydroelectric dam to Russian cybercriminals. At that time, the attackers managed to temporarily take control of the dam. The Russian embassy in Oslo said the accusations were unfounded and politically motivated.
The service repeated warnings on the 6th of February about a recurrence of such situations, and indicated that Russia could see a benefit in carrying out sabotage operations. The most likely targets are real estate and logistics infrastructure related to support for Ukraine, but civilian infrastructure could also suffer. The PST also warned that Russian intelligence services are increasingly trying to recruit Ukrainian refugees living in Norway. Ukrainians whose family members remain in Russian-occupied regions or who own property there are particularly at risk. Given that Norway is home to around 100,000 war refugees, the potential recruitment poses a serious security challenge.
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Poland and other European countries have faced a wave of arson, sabotage and cyberattacks.
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