The fallout following the release of ‘Skyggekrigen’ (The Shadow War), a new documentary co-produced by public broadcasters from the four largest Nordic nations, continues to deliver revelations about Russian espionage in the region that have been described as astonishing and worrying of Danish members of parliament.
Over the weekend, the Faroe Islands, which Russian ‘fishing boats’ with military radio equipment have allegedly used as a marina for several years, came into the spotlight.
The ‘shadow war’ has mapped the maneuvers of 50 Russian boats in Nordic waters over the past ten years, and among them are the two Russian boats with military radio equipment that the Norwegian authorities intercepted at the weekend.
According to DR, ‘Lira’ and ‘Ester’ docked in Faroese ports over 200 times between 2015 and 2022. Last year, 23 of their 28 collective calls were at the islands.
The opposition’s inner circle speaks out
Several party leaders are concerned by the latest revelations – particularly the recently confirmed opposition alliance of the blue bloc duo Conservative and Liberal Alliance with the center party Radikale, whose leader Martin Lidegaard said it was unacceptable.
“We cannot accept that and I assume we have put an end to it immediately – it is obviously unsustainable.” he said to DR.
“We cannot allow the Russians to carry out this kind of surveillance in Danish and Faroese waters, and it breeds internal discord in the Commonwealth. It raises security policy issues, which the Danish government must respond to and have a dialogue with the Faroes about how we handle this.”
The islands are a self-governing area of the Kingdom of Denmark, but the Danish government has the authority to take over foreign and security policy should the need arise.
Conservative: Not a fishing issue!
Acting Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen’s current position is that all Faroese fishing agreements with Russia are a Faroese matter.
“I have no opportunity to interfere,” he said to DR.
“But having said that, it is clear that if there is espionage against the Commonwealth, Denmark also has an obligation to ensure that it does not take place. We will of course follow that, and we are already doing so today. It’s not like we’re naive.”
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Source: The Nordic Page