Norwegian Firm Mulls Suing Government Over Pressure to Spy on Russia – Reports

MURMANSK (Sputnik) - Norwegian cement maker Olen Betong plans to sue the government over hundreds of millions of kroner in losses from secret service attempts to recruit its staff in Russia, the NRK news channel said.

"They tried to recruit or contact us on about a dozen different occasions", the company’s Murmansk office CEO Atle Berge told the NRK news channel.

Berge and another employee, Kurt Sto, said they had refused to spy for Norway when they worked at the factory in the northwestern Russian city, but Russia found out and expelled them anyway.

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The company invested about 200 million kroner to launch cement production in Murmansk in 2008. With the executives expelled, it says it has to manage the outlet from Norway. Berge will not be able to return to Russia for another seven years.