In Norway, on October 17, Andrei Yakunin, the eldest son of the former head of Russian Railways, Vladimir Yakunin, was arrested for two weeks.
The reason for the arrest was the launch of a drone over the island of Svalbard. This is reported by the Norwegian edition of The Barents Observer and the Russian “RBC”.
Andrey Yakunin is a co-founder of the Venture Investments & Yield Management (VIYM) fund.
The foundation claims that Yakunin Jr. used the drone for recreation during a trip to Svalbard in late August.
Andrey is fond of nature, photography and extreme sports, as evidenced by his activity on social networks. Andrey, a British citizen, is fully cooperating with the authorities to provide all the necessary information about the innocent purposes of his vacation on the boat, the company said.
According to The Barents Observer, in court the detainee asked to be treated as a British citizen, and named Italy as his place of residence.
Drones and electronic devices were confiscated from Yakunin during his arrest.
The content (recordings – ed.) from the drone is of great importance for the case, – said police prosecutor Anja Mikkelsen Indbjer.
It is noted that the drone was launched from a sailing yacht with a crew. This yacht has sailed around Svalbard and along the coast of Norway since the summer. The detainee’s Russian passport was found on board the yacht.
Vladimir Yakunin headed Russian Railways from 2005 to 2015. He is considered a close associate of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.
In 2014, he came under US sanctions imposed due to Russian aggression against Ukraine. In January 2015, Yakunin, in an interview with Bloomberg, accused the West of solving the “economic war” and trying to quarrel Putin with his entourage with the help of sanctions. In 2019, Canada also imposed sanctions against him.
Svalbard is a polar archipelago belonging to Norway. However, according to international agreements, Russia also carries out economic activities on it – there are several small Russian settlements on the archipelago associated with coal mining and fishing.
Source: The Barents Observer, RBC
Source: Racurs
