The 47-year-old Russian, Andrey Yakunin, was on vacation in Svalbard when he was arrested for taking pictures with drones, his press team told VG. They deny connections with President Vladimir Putin.
Updated less than 30 minutes ago
On Wednesday afternoon, Yakunin’s defense team released his name in connection with him challenge imprisonment.
In VG, attorney John Christian Elden says this was authorized and wanted by Yakunin.
The 47-year-old is the son of an alleged close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin. His father is on the list of sanctioned Russian actors in both the United States and the United Kingdom.
He himself is a businessman with an office in England.
His press team writes to VG that he has no connection with the Russian president or the Russian authorities.
It is said that he was aboard a boat, which has been sailing around Svalbard and Spitsbergen for periods since July.
Data from the MarineTraffic website shows that the sailboat in question has been on Svalbard for a longer period in the summer and autumn. It is unclear whether the accused man was in the vicinity of the sailboat during this period.
According to the editors, he was on vacation when he was arrested.
“He used a drone as a hobby during his vacation trip to Svalbard in late August. He is passionate about nature, photography and extreme sports,” the press team writes.
He is now cooperating with the police, they further write.
PST is in charge of investigating drone observations in Norway – this is what PST said about the threat to Norway:
The businessman has British and Russian citizenship. In court, he claimed that he considered himself British, and therefore that he had not broken the rules of sanctions according to which Russians cannot film with a drone on Norwegian territory.
The court notes that it is strange that he is traveling on a Russian passport, according to the Vestre Finnmark district court ruling.
In a police interrogation, the man allegedly claimed that he had a Russian passport in an apartment in another European country and that he had not carried a passport with him for a long time.
“This is in stark contrast to the fact that his Russian passport was found during a search
the boat in a black bag in its cabin, “writes the district court judge.
His defender previously told VG that he filmed for both social media and his own safety.
– The Svalbards have a rude character and have been there alone, so it was to minimize the risk of accidents they used drones in certain contexts, says attorney Jens Bernhard Herstad.
PST said at a press conference on Wednesday that it considers Svalbard and the northern areas strategically very important to both Norway and Russia.
– Svalbard and the Arctic have been important to Russia over time, but we consider them even more important now that the tension is mounting due to the proximity to the border and the important location of Svalbard, said the assistant manager of the PST Hedvig Moe.
