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Russian researcher Julie Wilhelmsen says that the Foreign Ministry’s hacker accusations against Russia should be viewed in light of the ever-increasing deterioration in relations between Norway and Russia.
– It is sensational, because as I perceive the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), they are very careful in making such statements. So they must have a pretty good occupation, and they probably have the need to emphasize that Norway does not allow itself to be governed, Russia researcher Julie Wilhelmsen from the Norwegian Foreign Policy Institute (NUPI) tells NTB.
Also read: – Russia was behind the data breach at the Storting
He points out that previously it was the PST and the electronic service that had made such accusations against Russia, but not the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
It was in August this year that the Storting came under a comprehensive hacker attack. Foreign Minister Ine Eriksen Søreide (H) announced on Tuesday that the government believes Russia is behind.
NUPI researcher Julie Wilhelmsen
Photo: (NUPI)
Russia is provoked
Wilhelmsen believes that a possible attack by Russian hackers on the Storting should be understood in light of an increasingly deteriorating relationship between Norway and Russia over the past five years.
She believes that the situation has been frozen in line with changes in Norwegian defense policy and Russian military modernization and rearmament since the crisis in Ukraine in 2014. Russia accuses Norway of contributing to the militarization of the Upper North.
He lists a number of incidents that Russians consider provocative in recent years: Stationing of US NATO soldiers on Norwegian soil, exercise activity with Allied soldiers further north than before and near very important Russian bases, construction of the Vardø radar. , Norwegian intelligence delivery to the US, the celebration of the massive NATO exercise Trident Juncture, and that Norway recently sailed to the Russian economic zone with, among others, British and American warships.
Also read: The Russian embassy strongly against the accusation
– extended arm
– Russia’s claim has always been that the United States is pushing to make Norway its outstretched arm. But now Russia also says that it is Norway that invites in, and that with knowledge and will it becomes the extension arm of the United States, so the Russian vision of Norway is different from that of five years ago, says Wilhelmsen .
– What Norway often refers to as small changes, refers to Russia as big changes. Russia, at the same time, has done several things to signal that they perceive they are in some kind of war with the West and to show that they are fighting back.
– Storting piracy must be viewed from this perspective. There’s just no other way to look at it, says Wilhelmsen.
Also read: Home office increases risk: 300,000 Norwegians scammed in a year
– It could be dangerous
– Norway seeks to increase its security by cooperating more closely with NATO. But does it also carry a greater risk for Norway in terms of Russian reactions?
– Yes, there is a paradox there. On the one hand, you get a stronger defense from Norway, which we can argue we needed, because we have built our country’s defense quite sharply over the last 20 years. On the other hand, since Russia is in this conflict with the United States, we become more of a target and an enemy to them the more we associate with the United States. We are between two great powers in conflict, says Wilhelmsen.
She notes that Norway solved this dilemma in a different way during the Cold War by balancing politics between deterrence and quiet.
– The measures that have concerned us for the last five years have contributed to developing only the deterrence component, says Wilhelmsen.
Also read: One click confirms you’ve been hacked – here’s the password that ensures it never happens again
– Misjudgment
She thinks it’s reckless.
– A problem that one believes that deterrence, the projection of a superior military power in the Upper North will cause Russia to step back and surrender. In my opinion, it is an error of judgment. They will not surrender, not in their immediate areas where they have important military and economic interests to protect, they will fight. That’s the problem with blind faith in deterrence, and in NATO there is often blind faith in showing superiority, but it can quickly turn into a dangerous situation, Wilhelmsen says.
– At least when there is an even stronger belief that threats and the use of force will cause the other party to withdraw from the Russian side, he emphasizes.
(© NTB)
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