Authorities in Denmark have charged a university professor with assisting “foreign intelligence operatives”, believed to be Russian. Professor Timo Kivimäki, a conflict resolution expert, who teaches international politics at the University of Copenhagen, is accused of “providing or attempting to provide” information to four Russian government officials on several documented instances between 2005 and 2010. The indictment claims Kivimäki, who was born in Finland, intended to give the Russians “information relating to individuals and subjects connected with intelligence activities”.The charges were filed after a lengthy investigation, launched in 2009 by the Danish Security and Intelligence Service (PET) in cooperation with Finland’s Security Intelligence Service (SUPO). The university professor spoke to leading Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat and admitted that he carried out contractual “consulting work” for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, for six years. He said he was paid approximately €16,000 (US$20,000) for his services, but denied that he knowingly contacted Russian intelligence operatives in the course of his consulting duties. According to Kivimäki, the Russian officials he interacted with appeared to be “diplomats, not spies”.
He also pointed to the fact that none of the Russian officials he worked with as a consultant were apprehended or expelled by Danish counterintelligence, as is customary in such cases. Despite its relatively small size, Denmark had its share of international intelligence activity during the Cold War. During that period, PET amassed detailed files on approximately 300,000 Danish citizens considered to be “leftist sympathizers”. More recently, in November of 2010, media reports from Denmark suggested that the US embassy in Copenhagen maintained a network of local former police and intelligence officers, who were conducting “illegal systematic surveillance of Danish citizens”.
The Kivimäki case, however, marks the first instance of alleged Russian espionage activity in the Scandinavian country in many years. The Finnish-born academic, who has been suspended by his university employers, says he is not worried about his upcoming trial, which is scheduled to begin on May 8. “The court must prove first that the Russian diplomats were indeed intelligence agents. Even if this is proven, they would have to prove that I knew it”, he says. Kivimäki faces up to six years in prison, if convicted.
JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
He also pointed to the fact that none of the Russian officials he worked with as a consultant were apprehended or expelled by Danish counterintelligence, as is customary in such cases. Despite its relatively small size, Denmark had its share of international intelligence activity during the Cold War. During that period, PET amassed detailed files on approximately 300,000 Danish citizens considered to be “leftist sympathizers”. More recently, in November of 2010, media reports from Denmark suggested that the US embassy in Copenhagen maintained a network of local former police and intelligence officers, who were conducting “illegal systematic surveillance of Danish citizens”.
The Kivimäki case, however, marks the first instance of alleged Russian espionage activity in the Scandinavian country in many years. The Finnish-born academic, who has been suspended by his university employers, says he is not worried about his upcoming trial, which is scheduled to begin on May 8. “The court must prove first that the Russian diplomats were indeed intelligence agents. Even if this is proven, they would have to prove that I knew it”, he says. Kivimäki faces up to six years in prison, if convicted.
JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
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