Moscow awaits explanation from Norwegia over Russian’s arrest

The Russian parliament is waiting for an explanation on the arrest of an employee of the Central Office of the Federation Council, Mikhail Bochkaryov, from its colleagues in Norway; otherwise, a "normal trend’ in interparliamentary relations between the two countries will be impossible." Chairman of the Federation Council Committee for Foreign Affairs Konstantin Kosachyov said about it on Wednesday on the Vmeste-RF TV channel live.

Bochkayrov was detained at Oslo Gardermoen Airport in September and then arrested. According to the Norwegian side, Bochkaryov had been allegedly gathering information through wireless networks during a seminar of the European Center for Parliamentary Research and Documentation (ECPRD) held in the Storting (Norway’s parliament - TASS). The Russian Embassy in Oslo stated that the case was manufactured. On October 18, the Norwegian News Agency reported that Oslo District Court made the decision to release Bochkaryov, after which the Norwegian Police Security Service immediately appealed this decision, but revoked the appeal later. Two days later the Federation Council press service reported about Bochkaryov’s return to Moscow.

"We will definitely wait for an explanation of the incident from the Norwegian Storting - (Norway’s parliament - TASS)," Kosachyov stated. "I am absolutely confident that our colleagues in Norway should find courage to admit their mistake and apologize both before our colleague and the Russian parliament in general," the senator stressed.

The head of the Federation Council committee said that "any normal trend in Russian-Norwegian parliamentary relations will be just impossible without it."