Norway’s Bergen Airport Closes Briefly After Drone Sightings

Drone sightings in key infrastructure areas in Norway on Wednesday has their intelligence agency scrambling to investigate the matter, with some officials suspecting Russian interference in the usage of these drones near these areas.

Bergen Airport in Norway, which is close to the main naval base of the country, was shut down at 6:30 in the morning after several unknown drones were sighted in the area. The owners of the said drones is unclear, and the use of those drones have yet to be established by authorities, according to ABC News.

“There can also be observations that could be other phenomenon, for instance weather,” Bergen police spokesman Ørjan Djuvik said. “We are sure that there is at least one.”

Another smaller airport north of Bergen also observed a drone nearby, forcing it to also close temporarily. Other areas such as offshore oil and gas platforms and other Norwegian infrastructure have had drone sightings in recent months, and some officials believe that some Russian interference may be behind it, AP News reported.

“We believe (the drone flights are) carried out in a way that makes it difficult to find out who is really behind it,” Norwegian Police Security Service deputy chief Hedvig Moe said, before pointing to possible Russian involvement in the flights. “Russia simply has more to gain and less to lose by conducting intelligence activities in Norway now compared to the situation before the war,” she continued. “It is simply because Russia is in a pressed situation as a result of the war (in Ukraine) and is isolated by sanctions. We are in a tense security-political situation, and at the same time a complex and unclear threat picture that can change in a relatively short time.”

Russian citizens have been arrested recently in Norway for flying drones or taking photographs of sensitive areas in Ukraine, with at least seven arrested so far as of Wednesday. Norwegian law dictates that Russian companies or citizens are not allowed to fly drones or aircraft in Norwegian territory, reportedly mirroring a similar law instituted by the European Union. “It is not acceptable that foreign intelligence is flying drones over Norwegian airports. Russians are not allowed to fly drones in Norway,” Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said. “We do not want anyone to fly this type of craft over important installations in Norway.”