The Foreign Ministry decided to expel the Russian diplomat Aleksandr Stekolshikov after he met Norwegian Harsharn Singh Tathgar, who is accused by the Police Security Service (PST) of revealing state secrets.
Stekolshikov left Norway on Thursday, shows photos TV 2 has taken of him at Oslo airport. The Russian would not answer any of TV 2’s questions.
Together with the family, the Russian intelligence officer took the plane to Istanbul around half past six on Thursday night.
– We have informed the Russian ambassador that an employee at the Russian embassy is unwanted as a diplomat and will be asked to leave Norway. This is because he has performed actions that are not compatible with his role and status as a diplomat, said communications manager Trude Måseide at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday.
Diplomatic immunity
50-year-old Harsharn Singh Tathgar was arrested by PST at a restaurant in Oslo on Saturday. He was then in a meeting with the Russian diplomat who has now been deported from Norway.
PST has described Stekolshikov as an intelligence officer. The Russian embassy in Oslo has stated that he was employed as a deputy trade representative.
The Russian has diplomatic immunity, which means that he could not be prosecuted in Norway. The Russian was therefore not arrested when PST went into action.
– We probably only focus on the Norwegian. Intelligence officers and diplomats have immunity. PST can not request anything here. It will probably be the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said senior adviser Martin Bernsen in PST on Tuesday.
Russian Aleksandr Stekolshikov at Oslo Airport, shortly before departure to Istanbul. Photo: Truls Aagedal / TV 2
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Will retaliate for deportation
Harsharn Singht Tathgar denies criminal guilt in the case, but has in interrogation admitted that he has received money to provide information. According to PST, the Russian diplomat must have met the Norwegian accused of spying several times.
The Russian embassy wrote on Facebook that the diplomat was “arrested for no reason”. The diplomat was searched by PST, and he was not given the opportunity to contact the embassy or call employees from the consulate department to the place, the embassy wrote further.
“We expressed protest to the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in connection with the violation of the diplomat’s status,” it was stated in the statement from the embassy.
The Russian news agency RIA has written that Russia will retaliate against Norway’s expulsion of the Russian diplomat.
Vladimir Dzhabarov, the first deputy head of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Russian Federation Council, told the news agency that he believed the United States was involved in Norway’s decision to expel the Russian diplomat.
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