A 51-year-old Russian national has been arrested in Norway on suspicion of spying after he attended a conference on strengthening cooperation between Europe’s parliamentary administrations, his lawyer said Monday.

Lawyer Hege Aakre told the Norwegian news agency NTB that her client, who was not identified, was being questioned by Norway’s domestic intelligence agency, PST.

The man was arrested Friday during the event by the European Center for Parliamentary Research and Documentation, held at Norway’s Parliament, and placed on pre-trial detention for two weeks the following day. No further details were available.

Aakre said her client denies any wrongdoing.

On its Facebook page, the Russian Embassy in Oslo said the detention was “based on an absurd pretext.”

Prime Minister Erna Solberg said the case was not political, telling NTB from New York, where she is attending a meeting with the United Nations, that the case was “a police matter that is being investigated.”

Norwegian media reported that the man is a senior IT adviser with the Duma, Russia’s lower house of parliament. They reported that his behavior at the two-day conference prompted parliamentary officials to contact the intelligence service.

The ECPRD is a European network for cooperation between parliamentarians on research, documentation and information. The Oslo event focused on digitalization.
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