Russian indicted in Norway for flying drone denies guilt

Russian businessman Andrey Yakunin indicted by Norwegian prosecutors last week after he was found flying a drone on the Svalbard islands has denied criminal guilt for the charges.

Yakunin was charged with violating sanctions regulations, which prohibit Russian nationals from flying drones in Norway. He denies criminal guilt and believes there is no basis for issuing the indictment, according to John Christian Elden from the Elden law office, who represents Yakunin. 

The dual Russian-British citizen was taken into custody by Norwegian police on Oct. 17 during a boating holiday in the Arctic archipelago and remains detained as prosecutors have appealed court rulings for his release. His father Vladimir Yakunin was among the closest allies of Russian President Vladimir Putin until leaving his post as the head of the national railways, Russia’s largest employer, in 2015.

Yakunin was using the drone to take landscape photographs and check for weather conditions on hiking routes, his lawyers said last month. The regulations prohibiting Russian nationals from flying drones in Norway do not apply to British citizens and also contravene the Svalbard Treaty, they said. They also said the sanctions do not apply to the recreational use of drones, as in the case of Yakunin.