Arne Treholt Cold War Soviet Agent Country: Norway

Biography of Arne Treholt

Arne Treholt, a 63-year-old Norwegian, was a Soviet agent during the Cold War. In a critical condition, he was admitted to a hospital in Cyprus, where doctors discovered a blood infection with an unfavorable prognosis. Treholt began his career as the secretary to Norwegian Minister of Maritime Law, Jens Evensen, in the 1970s. However, after being spotted in meetings with Gennadiy Titov, an advisor at the Soviet Embassy in Norway, he was taken under the surveillance of Norwegian counterintelligence. In 1978, Treholt was appointed as an advisor to the Norwegian UN mission in New York, where he regularly met with Soviet intelligence officer, Vladimir Shishin. In 1982, he studied at the Norwegian Ministry of Defense's advanced school. On January 20, 1984, Treholt was arrested at Oslo Airport while attempting to fly to Vienna for a meeting with Titov. Found in his possession was a diplomat carrying several thousand classified NATO documents. On June 20, 1985, Treholt was sentenced to 20 years in prison for espionage in favor of the Soviet Union and Iraq. In 1992, he was conditionally released from prison due to his deteriorating health and subsequently moved to Cyprus, where he founded an investment company. In 2004, Treholt's autobiography, "Gray Areas," was published in Norway, with a presentation held in Oslo. Treholt consistently emphasized, "I have never been a spy."