Russia’s upper parliament house confirms that man detained in Oslo is its employee

Russia’s Federation Council upper parliament house has confirmed that the Russian national detained at Oslo’s airport is its employee and pledged to spare no effort to protect his legal interests and rights.

"We will do our best to protect the legal interests and rights of our colleague, the Federation Council employee. The Russian foreign ministry is taking efforts to clarify the situation. Everything the foreign ministry is doing is being done at our request," deputy speaker of the Federation Council Ilyas Umakhanov told TASS on Monday.

"We know he has been detained for a term of two weeks by a Norwegian district court," he said, adding that this detention looks like a deliberate provocation. "Obviously, it will not go unnoticed," he pledged.

"I think it frustrates inter-parliamentary cooperation when a delegate from a foreign country, no matter which, who comes at an invitation of the Norwegian parliament is detained with no apparent reason," Umakhanov said, adding that this man, Mikhail Bochkarev, had taken part in a number of such forums since 2009.

According to the deputy speaker, the seminar Bochkarev took part in had been organized by the Council of Europe, an international organization, "with participation of the Norwegian parliament." "It sets one thinking: can a person who doesn’t enjoy a lawmaker’s status be engaged to develop contacts between agencies and parliamentary structures? As we understand that any person is defenseless," he said.

The Russian foreign ministry said earlier in the day that Bochkarev, a Federation Council employee, arrived in Norway at the invitation from the European Center for Parliamentary Research and Documentation to attend an international seminar.

Russia’s embassy in Norway on Sunday confirmed that a Russian national had been detained at Oslo’s airport. The embassy described the arrest as being made under "a contrived and absurd pretext."

Norway’s Ambassador to Moscow Rune Resaland was summoned to the Russian foreign ministry on Monday to be presented with a strong protest over Bochkarev’s detention. The ministry said it "demanded explanations be given over the incident, absurd charges be withdrawn and the man be released.