Sverre Ingebregt Selmer Nilsen (25 May 1931 – 18 June 1991) was a

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

fisherman spying for the

GRU The Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, rus, Гла́вное управле́ние Генера́льного шта́ба Вооружённых сил Росси́йской Федера́ци ...

during the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

. He was active in

Bodø Bodø (; smj, Bådåddjo, sv, Bodö) is a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Salten. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Bodø (which is also the capital of Nordland count ...

from 1956 to 1963, and reported Bodø landings and take-offs of the American

espionage Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tangibl ...

plane

Lockheed U-2 The Lockheed U-2, nicknamed "''Dragon Lady''", is an American single-jet engine, high altitude reconnaissance aircraft operated by the United States Air Force (USAF) and previously flown by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). It provides day ...

to the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

. These operations culminated with the

U-2 Crisis of 1960 On 1 May 1960, a United States U-2 spy plane was shot down by the Soviet Air Defence Forces while conducting photographic aerial reconnaissance deep inside Soviet territory. The single-seat aircraft, flown by American pilot Francis Gary Power ...

, when one of the U-2 planes was forced down over Soviet Union on 1 May 1960. Nilsen, originally from Bakfjord,

Finnmark Finnmark (; se, Finnmárku ; fkv, Finmarku; fi, Ruija ; russian: Финнмарк) was a county in the northern part of Norway, and it is scheduled to become a county again in 2024. On 1 January 2020, Finnmark was merged with the neighbouri ...

, was recruited in 1948 after threats from Soviet agents towards his family. The 17-year-old boy was sent for training in the Soviet Union. He returned seven months later, with a radio transmitter and knowledge of telegraphy. After more than seventeen years as foreign agent he was arrested in 1967, and sentenced to seven and a half years imprisonment in a trial held behind closed doors in the court of

. The conviction was eventually confirmed in the Supreme Court, in April–May 1968. He was however pardoned from further imprisonment after 3 years. The disclosure shocked Norway, as well as its

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

allies, as the espionage had been carried out through the peak of the Cold War. After the arrest, and the subsequent premature release, Nilsen spoke openly about his activities as an agent for the Soviet regime. A televised documentary about Nilsen, featuring himself as the main story-teller, was shot in 1971, but was not broadcast on Norwegian television until December 2007. The documentary was originally stopped following discussions in the press, as well as between representatives from the

Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation NRK, an abbreviation of the Norwegian ''Norsk Rikskringkasting AS'', generally expressed in English as the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, is the Norwegian government-owned radio and television public broadcasting company, and the largest ...

and the National Defense Administration.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nilsen, Selmer 1931 births 1991 deaths People from Måsøy Admitted Soviet spies Norwegian people convicted of spying for the Soviet Union 1967 in international relations