After years of political pride and satisfaction over Norway’s close relations with its large neighbor to the east, concerns are now rising in the Norwegian foreign ministry. “Russia has changed” during the second term of President Vladimir Putin, according to Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide.
“We must acknowledge that the role of civilian society in Russia, the part of society that’s not directly under state jurisdiction, is being restricted,” Eide told newspaper Aftenposten on Friday. “This is unfortunate, both for the residents of Russia but also for the state itself. Every state is best off when it has a free, civilian society. And then (state officials) must remember that democracy is a lot more than just arranging elections.”
Eide’s unusually frank criticism of Russian authorities in Norway’s largest newspaper illustrates the level of Norwegian concern over Russian authoritarian interference in the lives of its citizens and civilian organizations. Norwegian human rights organizations and those that have had close cooperation with Russian counterparts in recent years have noticed an emerging pattern of oppression, from the detention of members of the Pussy Riot band to crackdowns on the opposition and, most recently, the Russian Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North
Read more: Russian relations ‘not the same’ : Views and News from Norway
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