Norwegians traded military equipment with Russia. Now they have a problem

The Norwegian arms sector is applying to participate in European Union defense programs, although Oslo is not a member of the EU. An obstacle may be the anti-ship systems from Kongsberg, which have been delivered to Russia since 2015. The head of the parliamentary control committee told PAP that the matter is serious.

Representatives of the Norwegian arms industry asked the parliament to support efforts to enable their companies to participate in defense programs announced and financed by the EU. This is not obvious because Norway is not a member of the EU, and therefore local companies do not have guaranteed access to orders.

– This is an important issue, both for Norway and, at least equally important, for the Norwegian defense industry – said Even Aas, vice-president of Kongsberg Gruppen, the largest arms manufacturer in Norway, at a meeting with the defense committee a few days ago.

At the end of October, foreign media revealed that the modern Harmonia anti-ship system produced by Kongsberg had arrived in Russia. The Norwegians were to sell the listening equipment to a Turkish company, which handed it over to the Russians. The first deliveries were to be made in 2015, shortly after Moscow illegally occupied Crimea and the eastern part of Ukraine, and the export of advanced technologies to Russia was subject to international sanctions.

Per-Willy Amundsen, a member of parliament from Stortinget, expressed concern about the consequences of the Kongsberg transaction for the entire Norwegian defense industry in an interview with PAP.

– The information we have received so far in this case is very disturbing. We must do everything necessary to establish the facts and make the Norwegian system as a whole work better, Amundsen said.

A member of Kongsberg's management board admitted that he is confident about the transparency of his company's activities. He rejected suspicions of violating international sanctions when delivering Harmonia.

– We did not violate any regulations. In the case of each sale abroad, we cooperate with the relevant offices, which in this case did not raise any comments – Aas told PAP.

However, the chairman of the parliamentary control committee expressed doubts about the quality of the Norwegian system for controlling the export of defense technologies. It is supervised by the government agency DEKSA.

– There are reasons to believe that DEKSA does not work well enough. This is one of the reasons why we will look into this matter and determine whether our system requires changes and whether there are people who should be held accountable for what is believed to have happened, Amundsen said.

Norwegian arms companies would like to be included in the so-called European Union flagship defense programs. They are to cover four strategic areas of key importance for Norway: the drone segment, strengthening the eastern flank of NATO and the EU, air defense over Europe and space technologies.

From Oslo Mieszko Czarnecki (PAP)

cmm/ mal/