Norwegian researcher arrested in Russia – suspected of wanting to develop genetic weapons – NRK Urix – Foreign news and documentaries

– It was a somewhat strange experience, the 73-year-old professor and long-term employee at the Norwegian Institute for the Work Environment (Stami) tells NRK.

In August 2018, he was arrested at the Pulkovo airport in St. Petersburg. He had passed through customs and was about to stamp his passport, when he was politely taken aside and taken to a separate room.

There, his luggage was unpacked, and there were some envelopes with hair samples that were of interest to the Russian FSB security police.

– They thought that I did not have the necessary permits to remove these hair samples from the country.

He missed the plane back to Norway, but was later released and allowed to travel home via Moscow.

He has investigated environmental toxins.

Yngvar Thomassen has been involved for many years in Russia in connection with studies on how environmental toxins affect the population.

The work has focused on the Nenets, an indigenous group living in northern Arkhangelsk. Thomassen has worked with researchers at the University of Arkhangelsk, where he has also served as a guest lecturer.

– We have especially tried to find out how long-term lead and mercury can change people living in the Arctic, how they develop intelligence and understanding, says Thomassen.

– Lack of iodine is also something we have looked at.

Student hair samples

It was in this context that he collected hair samples from some 70 students at the University of Arkhangelsk.

But what he didn’t know was that the FSB had followed this investigative work for a long time.

They suspected that the purpose of collecting the hair samples could be for NATO and the United States to use it to develop new secret weapons, where the goal was to attack Russia by destroying the genes of the Russian people.

Arkhangelsk and the neighboring city of Severodvinsk are one of the areas where the FSB is most vigilant against possible Western espionage. Mainly due to the modernization and construction of nuclear submarines at the large Sevashj and Zvezdochka shipyards.

The case against the convicted Norwegian spy Frode Berg is also related to this.

Frode Berg: It all started in a small restaurant in northwestern Russia in 2014

Absurd accusations

– The whole thing is quite absurd, says Thomassen.

– Today, many millions of Russians live abroad. If we really wanted to analyze Russian genes, we could only sample them.

He was deprived of both a PC and memory cards. There he had a large part of the scientific material he worked on. You didn’t get the PC back until October 2019, completely useless.

Thomassen has kept a low profile on the case, so as not to harm his colleagues and friends at the University of Arkhangelsk.

But a few weeks ago, a lawsuit was started in St. Petersburg where the university was fined for not declaring the hair samples. Thus, the involvement of the Norwegian professor in the case was also known.

The Russian online newspaper fontanka.ru writes that the FSB had long followed what Thomassen did and that the seizure at the airport was the result of this.

Letter to the editor

Thomassen has sent a letter to the rector of the University of Arkhangelsk, in which he says that he regrets not knowing that the type of hair samples he took from Russia must be declared.

But he emphasizes that such samples must contain the hair root, if it is to be used in genetic research. He also writes that the samples were to be used for his own research and were not part of the work he did in collaboration with the university.

All analyzes of the collected material have been conducted in Russia, writes Thomassen.

For him, the case only ended with a missed flight and a broken PC. He was not sentenced to 14 years in prison, as was the case with Frode Berg.