Rus­si­an dro­ne pilot absol­ved, high com­pen­sa­ti­on

Nor­way ban­ned the use of dro­nes for all Rus­si­an citi­zens in Nor­we­gi­an airspace after the start of the full-sca­le Rus­si­an inva­si­on of the Ukrai­ne. In the fol­lo­wing month in 2022, seve­ral Rus­si­ans were nevert­hel­ess caught fly­ing dro­nes in Nor­way, inclu­ding cases with a real sus­pi­ci­on of espio­na­ge.

Dro­nes in Spits­ber­gen: not allo­wed for Rus­si­ans sin­ce 2022.

Other cases may be of a more harm­less natu­re, and it was pre­su­ma­b­ly such a case whe­re the Rus­si­an-Bri­tish citi­zen Andrey Yaku­nin now was not only absol­ved, but actual­ly recei­ves a high com­pen­sa­ti­on from the Nor­we­gi­an sta­te.

Yaku­nin, a wealt­hy busi­ness­man, is said to have indi­rect con­nec­tions to Putin through his father. In the sum­mer of 2022, he was tra­vel­ling in Spits­ber­gen with a yacht. It was during that trip that he had used a dro­ne seve­ral times. In the fol­lo­wing tri­als, he reli­ed on his Bri­tish citi­zen­ship and on hims­elf being una­wa­re of the ban on dro­nes for Rus­si­ans. Yaku­nin spent 51 days in pri­son on remand.

A sus­pi­ci­on of espio­na­ge appears to have been ruled out. The images taken with the dro­nes seem to have been of a harm­less, tou­ristic natu­re.

Now Yaku­nin was dis­sol­ved in the court of last resourt. Pre­vious tri­als had also ended with acquit­tal, but the public pro­se­cu­tor had cho­sen to appeal.

Accor­ding to the latest ver­dict, Yaku­nin will get com­pen­sa­ti­on for a signi­fi­cant part of the cos­ts for his lawy­ers and for his time in pri­son, altog­e­ther 4.1 mil­li­on kro­ner (just abo­ve 380,000 Euro), as Barents­ob­ser­ver and NRK repor­ted.

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