COPENHAGEN, Denmark

A documentary aired by public broadcasters of the four main Nordic countries claims that Russia has spy stations in three of their capital cities – Copenhagen (Denmark), Oslo (Norway), and Stockholm (Sweden), leaving aside only its neighbor Finland.

The documentary, “Skyggekrigen’ (The Shadow War) also named as many as 38 intelligence officers from the Russian spy departments, SVR, GRU and FSB, allegedly part of espionage operations in the Nordic countries.

“When it comes to Russia, a large part of the diplomatic missions are Russian intelligence officers from the various intelligence services,” Daniel Stenling, counterintelligence chief at the Swedish intelligence service SAPO, says in the documentary.

Explaining the scope and intensity of the Russian operations, Danish Police Intelligence Service (PET) chief Anders Henriksen said: “The Russian services are very professional. They are enormously competent, they are very large, and they have many resources at their disposal with very far-reaching powers.”

Speaking in the documentary, Nordic intelligence service personnel speculated that the share of Russian intelligence service personnel ranges between a third to half at the embassies in the Nordic countries.

Russian Foreign Minister spokesperson Maria Zakharova dismissed the allegations, calling it a “coordinated fake story.”​​​​​​​