The Moscow City Court sentenced Frode Berg, a retired Norwegian border guard, to 14 years in a high security prison for spying, his lawyer said Tuesday.

Norwegian national Frode Berg accused of espionage against Russia during a court hearing at the Moscow City Court. April 16, 2019. Russia, Moscow.[Photo: IC]

"Berg said he would not appeal the verdict. We see no use in appealing it. Berg announced his intention to ask for presidential pardon after the verdict comes into force," Berg's lawyer Ilya Novikov said in a live broadcast by the TASS news agency.

Berg expects the Norwegian government to undertake necessary diplomatic efforts and ask Russian President Vladimir Putin to pardon him, Novikov added.

The Norwegian was arrested in December 2017 in Moscow for possession of confidential documents and was accused of sharing sensitive information about the Russian Navy with Norwegian authorities.

Berg had worked as a border inspector in Kirkenes in northeastern Norway near the Russian border for 25 years before he retired in 2014.

He remained affiliated with the border commissariat as part of a Norwegian-Russian border commission until summer 2016, according to Norwegian media reports.