Norway likely won't proceed with spying trial for a Russian citizen who was part of Russia-US swap

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Norway is unlikely go ahead with the trial of a Russian citizen who was arrested in the Scandinavian country in 2022 on espionage charges and who was part of a massive, multinational prisoner swap between Russia and the United States last week, a senior prosecutor said Friday.

The trial for Mikhail Mikushin had been planned for September but he then became part of the largest East-West civilian prisoner swap in post-Soviet history.

The deal saw two dozen people freed, including Mikushin. Moscow released journalist Evan Gershkovich and fellow American Paul Whelan, along with dissidents including Vladimir Kara-Murza as part of the swap.

For Mikushin's espionage trial to proceed in Norway he would have to be tried in absentia.

”No charges will be brought against him,” prosecutor Frederik G. Ranke of the national prosecution office told Norwegian broadcaster NRK on Friday, adding that to prosecute Mikushin was no longer in the public interest since he is no longer in the country.

Ranke's statement is significant though formally, it is up to the director of public prosecutions — a rank higher than that of the top prosecutor — to press charges and Norway’s top judicial authority is likely to follow that suggestion.

Mikushin entered Norway in late 2021, saying he was a Brazilian citizen named Jose Assis Giammaria. He was arrested and eventually gave up his real name to Norway’s domestic security agency, PST, which contended that he represented a threat to the country’s national interests.

Up to his arrest, Mikushin worked as a lecturer at the Arctic University of Norway in Tromsoe, and researched the northern regions and hybrid threats. Norway’s border with Russia is 198 kilometers (123 miles) long. Afterward, the university said that no data had been stolen or information taken from it.

Mikushin is presumed to be somewhere in Russia following the swap. Russian President Vladimir Putin greeted the Russian prisoners who were freed as part of the swap after they arrived at a Moscow airport on Aug. 1.