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This afternoon, the Foreign Ministry announced that Russia was behind the attack on the Storting in late August. During a press conference at 5.30pm, Foreign Minister Ine Eriksen Søreide calls the case too serious and says the Russian embassy has been called.
Soon after, the seemingly first response comes from the Russians. The head of the International Committee of the Russian Federation, Konstantin Kosachev, said in a statement to TASS:
– As always, the accusations are made without worrying about the documentation and any discussion about the incidents at the expert level, says Konstantin Kosachev.
To Tass, he reminds Russian readers how the PST went to arrest Mikhail Botshkarev after a tip from Storting employees, and how the case was eventually dropped.
– Following an injury to an employee of the Storting, an employee of our federation council (Botshkarev, journaln.anm.) Was unjustifiably detained for a month. And when the allegations were unconfirmed, neither the Storting nor the Norwegian Foreign Ministry apologized, says Kosatsjev.
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Leonid Slutsky, who is a member of the same committee, also takes a hard line against the accusations in an interview with TASS.
– It’s complete nonsense. Strong evidence is needed for such statements, he says, stating that this is not the first time Norway “has become hostage to anti-Russian hysteria.”
It also notes that Norway expelled a Russian diplomat in August “due to unfounded accusations.”
– It was an important step in the direction of the deterioration of relations between Norway and Russia. The accusations of a Russian cyber attack on the Norwegian Storting are a further step in the same direction, he believes.
