– Electronic service wanted my wife on assignment in Russia – NRK Troms and Finnmark – Local news, TV and radio

His wife Anita Berg says she heard it from her husband not long ago. She is shocked.

– At first I was quiet. Then I got mad. Then I despaired that someone could do something like that. Do you think about the consequences of something like that?

– Should I also go to jail? Or did you see him get arrested? Or sitting alone in a hotel room in Moscow? It is inconceivable that anyone could put us in such a situation.

Anita Berg says that her husband has a military education to better cope with such a situation, something that she does not have.

– I have worked in the health system. I have not dealt with that. It had been a crisis for the family. If I had gone the same way, I wouldn’t think about it. They have destroyed us more than you imagine.

– I’d pay for travel and lodging.

In the new book “I grenseland” written by NRK author and journalist Morten Jentoft, it is stated that Chief Officer “Jørgen” presented the proposals during meetings at Hotell Opera in Oslo.

Norwegian intelligence must have been willing to cover travel and accommodation for Frode Berg and his wife Anita Berg, assigned to Russia in the “usual way”.

The Intelligence Service must not have hidden the purpose.

– Jørgen wanted me to take my wife on a trip to make it seem a little more natural to me when I go to Moscow, for example, says Frode Berg.

I thought the Russians knew

The doomed Finnmarker thought it would be just as natural for him to travel alone to Russia.

He had done it several times before assignments for electronic service.

Berg says that after a while he said no to the proposal.

In the Moscow prison, Frode Berg began to think more about what the consequences might have been, had he agreed to take his wife Anita on a trip to Russia.

The Russian security police began in prison to ask about his wife and her visit to Russia.

– They also answered that question, it seemed a bit strange to me. I was a little scared when they asked me if I should invite my wife to Moscow. Some bells started to ring for me.

– So it seemed that the Russians knew about this proposal?

– Yes, I’m not going to stubbornly claim that they knew. But I found it a bit strange that they asked me a couple of times not to invite my wife. I reacted horribly to that.

Frode Berg was later informed that no one in the Kirkenes family had to cross the border into Russia while he was in prison.

– Could have been arrested by the FSB

Frode Berg believes that the Intelligence Service’s proposal that his wife Anita Berg travel with him on behalf of the electronic service to Russia could have important consequences.

– At worst, I could have had a terrible experience of terror on December 5, 2017 in Moscow when I was kidnapped. Worse still, she could have been arrested as an accessory, Berg says.

Call him an electronic service cynic

Morten Jentoft, author of the book “I Grenseland”, says he reacts to the proposal to use Frode Berg’s wife.

He believes that this is perhaps the most cynical on the part of the Norwegian intelligence service in this operation.

– Of course, you can call cynical to use a man like Frode Berg, but besides wanting to involve your wife in this, you overcome most things.

Morten Jentoft believes that the e-service’s desire to use Anita Berg speaks volumes about the entire operation..

– It reinforces the impression that this was an amateur, who did not evaluate the consequences of what they were doing, says Jentoft.

Anita Berg thinks she should have received an apology from the Intelligence Service.

– absolutely

– Are you hoping to get one?

– yes

The intelligence service has been informed of the main content of this case. Communications director Ann-Kristin Bjergene declines to comment.