Cold War spy in Cyprus hospital

ARNE TREHOLT, a former Norwegian top diplomat convicted of passing NATO secrets to the Russians at the height of the Cold War, was lying seriously ill in a Cyprus hospital yesterday, a diplomat said.

Treholt, 63, was suffering from septicaemia, a form of blood poisoning, a diplomatic source said. It was unclear when he was admitted to hospital and his medical doctor, contacted by Reuters, declined to make any comment on his condition.

“I’ve had people ringing me up from New York and Moscow about this … but I cannot give details,” cardiologist Marcos Agathangelou told Reuters.

As former head of the Norwegian Foreign Ministry’s press department and a junior foreign minister, Treholt was convicted in 1985 of passing NATO and Norway military secrets to the Soviet Union over a 10-year period.

Treholt was arrested in 1984 at Oslo airport with a briefcase full of documents as he was about to fly to Vienna to meet a KGB agent. Norway said his disclosures damaged Norway’s and NATO security.

Treholt maintained his innocence and was released on a pardon in 1992 on health and compassionate grounds. He later moved to Cyprus, where he set up an investment company.

In his autobiography, Grey Zones, released two years ago, Treholt claimed that he was wrongly convicted.

“My view of the guilt question is the same as it was in 1985,” he said. “I was convicted as a spy on the basis of circumstantial evidence, without any clear or material evidence.”

He did concede, however, that he drifted into some questionable areas, and overlooked the enemy situation with the Soviets that existed at the time. He also admits he behaved in a manner that attracted attention.

“I behaved carelessly and negligently,” he said, noting that he deserved criticism.

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The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.