LONDON

A man charged with espionage in Norway for allegedly working for the Russian military intelligence service (GRU) has admitted to being Russian rather than Brazilian, local media reported on Thursday.

He registered as Jose Assis Giamarria from Brazil as a guest researcher at the University of Tromso, but he now admits that he is 45-year-old Mikhail Valeryevich Mikushin from Russia, local tabloid Verdens Gang or VG reported.

“He recognizes his name. But we had relatively good evidence for that anyway,” a police attorney from the Norwegian Police Security Service (PST) Per Niklas Hafsmoe told VG.

According to Hafsmoe, early in the investigation, Norwegian police sent a letter to the Russian Embassy in Oslo asking for confirmation of the 45-year-old's Russian name.

“But we haven't heard anything, either from the Russian embassy or the Russian state,” he said, adding that a new letter was sent and that this time around the embassy decided to confirm Mikushin’s identity.

Following the name change, the accused spy is receiving consular assistance from the Russian Embassy, the police attorney claimed, adding, “Until now, the Russian embassy has been in contact with Mikushin twice after he confirmed his identity.”

Since the embassy's acknowledgment, VG reported that it approached the Russian Embassy for a comment, but was told that the consular department at the embassy has no information that Jose Assis Giammaria has Russian citizenship and that no consular assistance is provided in this context.

The 45-year-old was arrested in the early hours of Oct. 24 last year during an operation in Tromso while strolling down a snow-covered road on his way to university.

The police initially charged him with entering Norway under false claim.

However, it was later suggested by the VG and Bellingcat, an investigative journalism organization based in the Netherlands that focuses on fact-checking and open-source intelligence, that Mikushin is a senior GRU Russian military intelligence officer.

He came to Norway from Canada, where he completed a bachelor’s degree in international relations at Carleton University in 2015.

The alleged GRU spy came to the University of Tromso to work as a research volunteer interested in a study program called Hybrid Threats.

Mikushin obtained a false identity while in Brazil, the media outlet claimed, adding that it has documentation linking Mikushin to the GRU

Mikushin has been in custody of the PST for over a year facing charges of espionage.

Last April, 15 Russian diplomats were expelled from Norway after the Nordic country identified them as active intelligence officers.

However, Moscow has faced multiple expulsions of its diplomatic personnel all over Europe since it began the war in Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.