TEMPO.CO, Copenhagen - In a move that has annoyed Russia, a Norwegian television channel says it will air a fictional TV drama depicting a Russian invasion of Norway after radical environmentalists seize power and freeze the Scandinavian nation's oil and gas industry.

TV2 drama chief Christopher Haug said Saturday the 10-episode drama that starts Oct. 4 is "foremost about Norway and Norwegians, not Russia or Russians."

In "Occupy," Russia partly occupies Norway to resume the oil industry following a secret deal with the European Union. The series is the most expensive drama in Norwegian television history, costing 90 million Norwegian kroner ($11 million), according to TV2, which said the production company has already sold the series to stations across Europe.

"I am surprised by the reaction. It is obviously a fiction, everyone can see that," Haug told The Associated Press, adding that the Russian Embassy had been told about the series "at an early stage, three years ago, I believe."

"(It's) an engaging character drama about people put under great pressure," Haug added, stressing it "doesn't aim to reflect the current geopolitical situation in a realistic way."

Vyacheslav Pavlovsky, the Russian ambassador in Oslo, told Russia's Tass agency that "Russia, regrettably, has the role of the aggressor." "

In the worst traditions of the Cold War, (this show) decided to scare Norwegian viewers with a non-existent threat from the East," he said Thursday.

Norway's Foreign Ministry had no comment on the TV show.

Associated Press