Anders Behring Breivik
Norway’s twin terror suspect Anders Behring Breivik trained at a secret paramilitary field camp in Belarus earlier this year, a Belarusian opposition politician said on Thursday, citing security sources.
“Breivik visited Belarus several times. This spring, as part of his preparations for his twin attacks, he visited Minsk, where he underwent training at a secret paramilitary field camp,” Mikhail Reshetnikov, the head of the opposition Belarusian Party of Patriots, told the Gazeta.ru online newspaper.
He cited sources within Belarus’s “security organs.”
Breivik, 32, has admitted to carrying out a bombing in Oslo, which killed eight, and a mass shooting at a Labor Party youth camp on the nearby island of Utoya, which left 68 dead. He has not accepted criminal responsibility, however, saying his actions were “atrocious but necessary” measures intended to “save Norway and Western Europe” from a “Muslim takeover.”
Breivik mentioned in his online manifesto visiting Belarus to study the effects of fallout from the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster. The former Soviet republic’s state border agency has confirmed he was in Belarus from March 4 to March 11, 2005.
Reshetnikov also claimed Breivik had participated in “sabotage-terrorism drills” under a former Belarusian special service officer and that he had used a fake passport to enter Belarus.
“His codename in Belarus’s KGB was Viking,” he added. “Rumors say he also had a girlfriend in Belarus.”
“The theory that Belarus’ special forces were involved in training Anders Breivik seems, of course, far-fetched,” political expert Viktor Demidov was quoted by Gazeta.ru as saying.
“On the other hand, [Belarusian] President Alexander Lukashenko’s friendship with Muammar Gaddafi is no secret – neither is his fondness for Adolf Hitler.”
Norway is taking part in NATO operations in Libya and Gaddafi has threatened attacks against Europe.
