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NEW BOOK: Here is Frode Berg photographed by VG in February 2018, when he was detained in Moscow for another three months. Here with his Russian lawyer Ilya Novikov. Now the book on the Frode Berg case is out. Photo: Harald Henden
During the trial, Frode Berg appeared as a crying and repentant spy, left himself in enemy territory. But is the story that simple?
Morten Jentoft’s robust documentary on the so-called Frode Berg case is based primarily on two basic pillars:
His own journalistic work and Frode Berg’s diary notes from his incarceration.
The result is suitably sober, but also strangely confusing. Because neither the author nor the reader can fully understand what Berg’s motive really was for undertaking courier activities for the Norwegian intelligence service.
Can everything really be explained with a little adventurous spirit, some pocket money, and a solid dose of duty?
When Frode Berg was arrested in Moscow on December 5, 2017, it was the beginning of a nearly two-year political drama with neighboring Norway and Russia in the roles. One question that arises during the reading is whether the Russian FSB (the new name of the KGB) always planned to use Berg in a barter trade, as the result was in the end.
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In the book: The electronic service in direct contact with Russia after the arrest of Frode Berg
From the way the interrogations with him are reproduced in this book, it is at least fairly obvious that the Russians already knew all about Frode Berg and his role as a “mailbox” between Norwegian intelligence and his Russian source. There is also no indication that during interrogations they were particularly persistent in extracting more information from Berg. The most important thing seems to be keeping Frode Berg until the barter is ready.
In this sense, it can be said that the former border commissioner was a small piece in the great game, a piece that could move freely until the game was over.
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Frode Berg has to pay himself a public relations bill of almost 300,000 crowns
So how much did Frode Berg really know about what he was doing on his trips to Moscow and St. Petersburg? Is it credible that the man from Trøndelag with his military training acted like a somewhat naive civilian, and preferably closed his eyes to the shadowy sides of his mission? It is part of the story that Frode Berg on at least one occasion made assignments for the intelligence service at the same time as he was a member of an official Norwegian delegation in Russia.
It is in the nature of things that we never get to the full depth of this matter. Therefore, “I Grenseland” is also a story that moves more on the surface, a simple but not very attractive presentation of a story already written. However, a few little side stories help color all the gray, like the description of the seemingly perpetual dispute over competition between the intelligence service and the foreign service.
Where in the Norwegian system will the responsibility for the Frode Berg case ultimately lie? We will probably never know either.
In any case, the Russian cyber attack on the Storting in August shows that most things continue as before in this fateful neighborhood relationship.
reviewed by: Sindre Hovdenakk
