The Moscow City Court sentenced Norwegian, Frode Berg, to 14 years in a strict regime colony for spying for Norway. This was reported on April 16 by "Interfax".
Berg was convicted of collecting information about the submarines of the Russian Navy, which the Norwegian received from a defense company employee. The court concluded that Berg received money from the Norwegian intelligence agency for this information.
Berg's lawyer, Ilya Novikov, told “Interfax” that the state prosecution did not prove that Berg knew that he was working for the Norwegian intelligence service. According to the lawyer, his lack of information allows us to speak about the absence of corpus delicti. Novikov added that Berg decided not to appeal the court’s decision, because he plans to apply for clemency after the sentence enters into legal force.
Frode Berg is a retired Norwegian border guard who is 62 years old. In 2016, he actively opposed the construction of a fence on the Russian-Norwegian border. In December 2017, Berg was detained by FSB officers in Moscow on suspicion of espionage.
Before becoming the official lawyer of Berg, Ilya Novikov assumed that his defendant did not know that he was part of an intelligence operation. Novikov’s opinion about the case can be found in the “7x7” material – “A man of a completely non-adventurous mind”.
Denis Strelkov, "7x7"