Norway’s Court Releases Russian National Detained for Flying Drone

 / Go to the mediabankA view of the snowy peaks of the Spitsbergen (Svalbard) archipelago / Go to the mediabankMURMANSK, Russia (Sputnik) – A court in the Norwegian municipality of Tromso has released Andrey Yakunin, a Russian national detained in Norway for flying his drone.Yakunin, who has Russian and UK citizenship, has been in custody since he was detained in the city of Hammerfest in October. He was charged with video shooting from a drone in Svalbard, which is prohibited by sanctions imposed against Russians by the Norwegian authorities after the beginning of military operation in Ukraine.

Norway has banned Russians from flying drones in Norway over national security concerns following the suspected sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines in the Danish and Swedish waters. Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store said flying devices over critical infrastructure was unacceptable.Andrey Yakunin himself claimed that he was cooperating with the police and hoped the situation would be resolved quickly enough. His lawyers insisted that there was no prohibition on the Spitsbergen government’s website for foreigners to fly drones. That’s way Andrey Yakunin had no clue that such activity was prohibited.

At least seven Russian citizens have been detained in different regions of Norway for video shooting from drones.

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