Son of oligarch with Putin links arrested over Norway drone
Businessman is seventh to be held under security law preventing Russians flying over state or taking photos
A BRITISH-RUSSIAN son of an oligarch with close links to Vladimir Putin was arrested in Norway for illegally flying a drone in its airspace.
Andrei Yakunin, the businessman son of ex-russian Railways boss Vladimir Yakunin, is the seventh Russian to be arrested for illegal flights or taking unauthorised photography.
Norway banned Russians from flying over its territory with drones or by aircraft after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. Oslo boosted security around critical infrastructure after the suspected Russian sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines in September.
Mr Yakunin, 47, is accused of illegally flying a drone in the Svalbard archipelago, located in the geopolitically strategic Arctic region.
He was arrested on Monday in Hammerfest in northern Norway. Police searched his yacht Firebird, which remains in port, and found his Russian passport.
Drones and electronics in his possession were confiscated and he has been put in custody for two weeks after police argued there was a risk he could try to flee the country. He faces a possible three year sentence for flying the drone, while unauthorised photography can merit a one-year sentence.
“The suspect has admitted flying a drone in Svalbard,” Anja Mikkelsen, a police official, said.
Jens Bernhard Herstad, the man’s lawyer, said: “He admitted flying a drone, but had no reason to believe this was illegal. He is a British citizen.”
The boat had sailed around the Svalbard archipelago, a Norwegian territory strategically located in the heart of the Arctic with a relatively large Russian community, and along the Norwegian coast for several months.
Earlier this year, Mr Yakunin, who lives in Italy but used to live in London, told exiled Russian media outlets that he had never voted for Mr Putin and opposed the war in Ukraine.
His father was placed on the US sanctions list of Russian officials and businessmen after Moscow’s illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014. The loyal Putin ally was fired in 2015 after his son applied for British citizenship, which the Russian president was said to view as a “betrayal”.
Norway’s prime minister blamed “foreign intelligence” for the slew of mysterious drone sightings reported in recent weeks in what is believed to be a veiled accusation at Moscow.
Norway has replaced Russia as the main supplier of gas to the EU after the invasion of Ukraine and the sabotage on the Nord Stream pipeline led to boosted security around gas and oil platforms.
“It is obviously unacceptable for foreign intelligence to fly drones over Norwegian airports,” Jonas Gahr Store, the prime minister, said after a drone was observed near the airport in Bergen, Norway’s second-biggest city, briefly suspending air traffic.
Russia’s embassy in Oslo said on Monday that “hysteria” in Norway was impacting “ordinary tourists”, calling the ban on Russians flying drones “unjustified and discriminatory”.
Meanwhile, Finland’s main political parties backed plans to build a fence on its 830-mile border with Russia, to stop large-scale illegal crossings.
Helsinki is concerned that Putin might weaponise migrants after 40,000 people crossed into Finland after Putin ordered a partial mobilisation to bolster his army. Some have now left Finland for other EU countries, while others have claimed asylum in the country.