Arne Treholt, a Norwegian diplomat who sold Western secrets to the Soviet Union during the Cold War and as recently as 2020 warned countrymen not to antagonise Russia, has died in Moscow aged 80, the Norwegian government said on Monday.
Treholt, a journalist, politician and diplomat once tipped to become foreign minister, was arrested in 1984 and sentenced to 20 years in prison. The court verdict said his espionage had caused "irreparable harm" to Norway.
The son of a former cabinet minister, Treholt was detained at Oslo airport about to fly to a meeting with Russian KGB spy service officers in Vienna with a briefcase full of confidential documents, prosecutors said.
