Russian elite's cottages found in heart of NATO military base in Norway

Swedish and Norwegian military personnel lived in cottages belonging to the Russian elite during the NATO exercise. They were located in the centre of the military base.

A group of cabins belonging to Russians are located in the centre of a Norwegian military base in the north. The cabins overlook the airbase in Bardufoss, where Norwegian and allied units regularly conduct exercises, TV2 reports.

The owners of these cottages are the Russian power elite: Igor Morar, the mayor of Murmansk, and Viktor Saygin, who has close ties to the Russian military.

The mountain village claims that they were unaware of the owners' links to the Russian regime.

Eirik Veum, the police security service's spokesman for press relations, confirms that, together with the Norwegian armed forces, the circumstances around the lodges are currently being clarified.

"When the landlords are Russian citizens who can be associated with the Russian regime, it doesn't matter who they rent the house to. But we are not only involved because of the rent," Veum says.

Neither the Ministry of Defence nor the security services wanted to comment on the specific area of the cottage, but police stressed that buying such a property could be a security issue.