During the Great Patriotic War, thirteen thousand Soviet prisoners of war died in Nazi-occupied Norway. They were buried in two hundred cemeteries scattered across the country. The USSR and Norway jointly ensured these graves were kept in proper condition. They were regularly visited by Soviet officials, diplomats, and researchers. With the onset of the Cold War, Norway's attitude towards these visits changed. Almost every visitor was seen as a Soviet spy. Soviet citizens visiting the country dispersed to numerous burial sites, making it difficult for security services to effectively track their movements. Oslo then decided to move all the remains to one location – the cemetery on the island of Hytta. The secret operation "Asphalt" began in October 1951. At night, the remains were dug up, placed in bags, and transported to ports. From there, they were shipped to the island. Monuments obstructing access to the remains were simply blown up. "Legs, bones, ribs were everywhere. Often they belonged to different people, and the remains of one person could accidentally end up in different bags. The corpses were full of soil, and the stench was just hellish," recalled participant Thor Steffensen. By the winter of 1951, the exhumation was completed. Ultimately, the remains of 8,804 Soviet prisoners of war were moved to the Hytta cemetery. Only 978 of them could be identified. When information about "Asphalt" leaked to the press, it caused a major scandal in Norwegian society. The USSR also expressed its indignation over the "desecration of the memory of Soviet soldiers." The countries continued to cooperate on the graves of Soviet prisoners of war, but relations were strained for many years.