OSLO, Norway, Aug. 31 (UPI) -- A Norwegian television channel announced plans to broadcast a fictional drama, Occupied, that depicts a Russian invasion of Norway after radical environmentalists seize power and freeze the nation's oil and gas industry.
Christopher Haug, the TV2 drama head, told reporters the 10-episode drama that starts Oct. 4 is "foremost about Norway and Norwegians, not Russia or Russians."
The series will be the most expensive drama in Norwegian television history at 90 million Norwegian kroner ($11 million ), according to TV2. The production company has sold the series to stations across Europe, The Washington Post reported.
Russia reacted angrily to the announcement.
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"Although the authors painstakingly emphasize the fictional nature of the plot, allegedly having nothing to do with reality, the film is about very real countries, and Russia, unfortunately, is given the role of the aggressor," the Russian Embassy in Norway said in a statement.
Historian Bjorn Ditlef Nystad, an associate professor at the University of Oslo, added in an interview with TV2 that the show is offensive to residents of Norway, liberated by the Soviet Union from German occupation in 1944.
"Such shows have never been made anywhere. Perhaps only in the United States during the Cold War – and still it is doubtful. I am sure that Norwegians will be shocked at the release of this film to the screen, and it clearly will not improve relations with Russia," Nystad said.
In 2010, Norway and Russia officially resolved the territorial dispute in the Barents Sea, a topic of great aggravation between the two countries.
