Norway: The son of an oligarch with a penchant for drones

Increased security measures apply in Norway, Europe’s most important gas supplier. Several Russians have been arrested for illegal photography, including an oligarch’s son. He is awaiting trial in prison.

“I’m at sea and will have very few opportunities to read and reply to my emails.” This is how the absentee mail read from Andrei Yakunin, son of the Russian oligarch, Putin confidante and ex-KGB employee Vladimir Yakunin.

It is now known where the 47-year-old businessman with Russian and British citizenship is: He was arrested in Hammerfest in northern Norway on October 17 and has been in prison ever since. The yacht he was traveling on was arrested, and drones and other electronic devices were confiscated. He has since been charged, according to local media.

The public prosecutor accuses him of violating paragraph 4 of the Sanctions Act. It bans citizens of Russia from using drones in Norway. According to the police, Yakunin admitted to taking photos with drones. He was traveling around Spitsbergen and off the Norwegian coast. Yakunin said he was looking for mountaineering routes and taking nature photos. As a British citizen, he did not act illegally, his lawyer Jens Bernhard Herstad told the Barents Observer. However, Yakunin’s Russian passport was also found on board the yacht.

The Spitsbergen archipelago to the north is of strategic security and economic importance for Norway. Russia is claiming mining rights there and is mining coal. Norway also operates numerous offshore oil and gas platforms. Since less gas has been coming to Europe from Russia, Norway has become the most important gas supplier. Recently, drones have often been sighted on energy infrastructure such as gas and oil platforms and at airports. This and the explosions at the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines prompted Norway to take increased safety precautions. The military was put on high alert. Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre referred to assessments by the security authorities that Russia is apparently undertaking riskier secret service activities.

Alleged spy expelled from the country

Yakunin was one of seven Russian citizens arrested in Norway within a few days. All were accused of illegally taking photos and flying drones.

At the end of October, the domestic secret service PST also arrested a suspected Russian spy in Tromsø. The man, who has Brazilian citizenship, was a guest lecturer at the Arctic University in the city. PST vice-president Hedvig Moe said the researcher was being expelled from the country because he was believed to pose a threat to Norway’s fundamental national interests. The PST suspected the man might have created a network and gathered information that Russia could misuse. The suspect’s lawyer denied any wrongdoing by his client.

This case shows parallels to an action by the Dutch secret service AIVD. In June, he uncovered a suspected Russian agent who, with Brazilian citizenship, had applied for an internship at the International Criminal Court in The Hague. Investigations against Russia for alleged war crimes in Ukraine have been underway there since March. The 36-year-old had built up a pseudo-identity over the years and also attended seminars in the USA.

Benefited from Putin’s system

Yakunin is not just any citizen with British and Russian citizenship either. He made a name for himself when he criticized Russia’s war against Ukraine. However, he benefited from Putin’s system through his father Vladimir, as research by numerous media outlets, including the Russian platform “The Insider”, has shown. The team led by opposition politician Alexei Navalny uncovered how father Yakunin distributed orders to his son via a network of offshore companies.

Father Vladimir Yakunin is best known as the former head of the Russian railway company. However, he also worked for the Soviet secret service KGB and is a companion of Vladimir Putin. Investigations into alleged misappropriation of funds came to nothing, and witnesses were threatened.

Yakunin is an ultra-conservative hardliner and has built up an influence network in Western Europe over the years. He sat in the German-Russian Forum and made several public appearances with the ex-Prime Minister of Brandenburg, Matthias Platzeck. In 2016, Yakunin founded the think tank “Dialogue of Civilizations” based on Friedrichstrasse in Berlin, which, however, did not find favor with serious experts on Eastern Europe. In other EU countries such as the Czech Republic, he was able to exert influence, as research by the Voxpot platform showed. He established ties with Milos Zeman, who became the country’s president in 2013 and repeatedly caused political conflicts with his pro-Russian positions.

In the USA, Yakunin has been on the sanctions list since the annexation of Crimea, but so far not in the EU. His son Andrej is also not listed there. He has to answer in court from November 29, reported the Norwegian broadcaster NRK. According to the indictment, he stayed on Spitsbergen from August 3 to September 6 of this year and repeatedly had a drone flown during this time.