One night in September, police received tip that an embassy car had driven into a parked car at Frogner. The driver turned out to be a drunken Russian diplomat.
The police in Oslo received tips about the traffic incident during the night of Saturday 30 September, VG reports. The driver appeared clearly to be drunk. He tried to leave the scene, but was arrested by a police patrol car shortly afterwards.
The UD has confirmed that the Russian driver had diplomatic immunity. He has worked as intelligence officer for GRU – a military intelligence service – at the Russian Embassy in Oslo.
According to VG, he was not very cooperative, partly because he refused an breathalising test. The police patrol has described the Russian diplomat as “obviously drunk” and “jerky” – and that he smelt of alcohol from afar.
– The incident has been registered as a criminal case, which is not normally pursued since he has diplomatic immunity. It is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that handles the case in relation to the embassy, says section head Frode Andreassen at Oslo police district.
The Russian Embassy does not want to comment on the matter.
Usually, a representative from the embassy is invited to a meeting to review the report. Such cases tend to end with suspended employment in Norway and a return to their home country.
“We are serious about violations and follow up the case according to current routines,” says communications adviser Marte Lerberg Kopstad in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
© NTB Scanpix / Norway Today
