British-Russian son of the Putin allied because he flew drones near a gasterminal

A British-Russian son of an oligarch with close connections to Vladimir Putin was arrested in Norway because he had illegally flown a drone in a restricted area.

Andrej Jakunin, the businessman of the former Russian railway manager Vladimir Jakunin, is the seventh Russian who was arrested for illegal flights or unauthorized photography.

After the invasion of Moscow,

Norway banned the Russians to fly with drones or aircraft via its territory.

Oslo increased security around critical infrastructures after the alleged Russian sabotage of north stream gas pipelines in September.

Mr. Yakunin, 47, is accused of illegally a drone in the Svalbard archipelago in the geopolitical strategic Arctic region.

He was arrested in Hammerfest in Northern Norway on Monday. The police searched his yacht Firebird, which is located in the harbor, and found his Russian passport.

drones and electronic devices in his possession were confiscated and he was taken into custody for two weeks after the police argued that there was a risk that he could try to flee from the country.

He threatens a possible three -year prison sentence for flying the drone, while unauthorized photography can earn a one -year prison sentence.

"The suspect has admitted to having flown a drone on Spitzbergen," said police officer Anja Mikkelsen.

"He admitted to having flown a drone, but had no reason to assume that this was illegal. He is a British citizen," said lawyer Jens Bernhard Herstad.

The boat was sailed around the Svalbard archipelago for several months, a Norwegian territory with a relatively large Russian community that is strategically favorable in the heart of the Arctic, and along the Norwegian coast.

At the beginning of this year, Mr. Jakunin, who lived in Italy, but formerly lived in London, told Russian exile media that he had never voted for Vladimir Putin and spoke out against the war in Ukraine.

his father was placed on the US sanctions list of Russian official and business people after the illegal annexation of the Crimea in 2014.

Vladimir Jakunin von Putin displaced by his son's British citizenship

The loyal Putin ally was released in 2015 after his son applied for British citizenship what the Russian president should see as a "betrayal".

Jonas Gahr Store, Norway's Prime Minister, blamed “foreign secret services” for the whole of mysterious drone sightings, which have been reported in a presumably veiled accusation in Moscow in the past few weeks.

Norway replaced Russia as the main supplier of gas for the EU after the invasion in Ukraine and the sabotage on the north stream pipeline have led to increased security around gas and oil platforms.

"It is obviously unacceptable that foreign intelligence agencies fly drones over Norwegian airports," said Mr. Store, after a drone near the airport in Bergen, Norway's second largest city, was observed for a short time.

On Monday, the Russian embassy in Oslo said that "hysteria" in Norway was "ordinary tourists", and called the ban on Russians, drones to fly, "unjustified and discriminatory".

In the meantime, the most important political parties of Finland support plans for the construction of a fence on its 830 miles long border with Russia to stop illegal border crossings on a large scale.

Helsinki is concerned that Putin could arm migrants after 40,000 people came to Finland when Putin ordered partial mobilization to strengthen his army.

Some have now left Finland to other EU countries, others have applied for asylum in the country, Finland's Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto said on Wednesday on a trip to London.