Norway Expels 3 Soviets as Industrial Spies

The Norwegian government announced Thursday that it has ordered the expulsion of a Soviet diplomat and two Soviet trade mission delegates who it said worked for the KGB secret police to gather high-technology industrial intelligence.

In addition, the government declared a third Soviet trade representative, who is no longer in Norway, persona non grata , which means he cannot return to the country.

The Soviets retaliated by expelling a Norwegian diplomat, Rune Aasheim, now on leave in Norway, and barring Aage Grutle, a former member of the embassy, from returning to the Soviet Union.

Norwegian officials said the expulsions were not related to the investigation of the Kongsberg Vaapenfabrickk, the state-owned weapons company. Kongsberg was the junior partner with Japan’s Toshiba Machine Co., in selling the Soviet Union computer-controlled milling machines for manufacturing quiet-running propellers that would make Soviet submarines more difficult to detect.

But despite the absence of a direct connection with the Kongsberg case, Justice Minister Helen Boesterud said the expelled Soviets were seeking, among other intelligence, secrets on underwater technology, including information related to submarine detection.

Foreign Minister Thorvald Stoltenberg said the expulsions were ordered July 15 but kept secret in hopes of preventing retaliation by Moscow. But he said that the Kremlin retaliated with the move against the two Norwegians.

The Soviet diplomat expelled was identified as Valentin V. Korpusov, a second secretary. The trade delegates were identified as Valery I. Reshetnikov, Alexander I. Sergienko and Vladimir M. Vetrov.

It was the worst spy-related case in Norway since Arne Treholt, the head of the Foreign Ministry’s press section, was found guilty in 1984 of passing military secrets to the Soviets. He is serving a 20-year sentence.