Norway announced, on Saturday, that it had arrested a Russian citizen carrying a drone after he was seen taking pictures of an airport in the far north of its territory, in the second case of its kind this week.
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The 51-year-old, who was also in possession of a camera and has not been named, was arrested on Friday on suspicion of flying a drone over the Scandinavian country, which he admitted to, according to authorities.
Police in the northern city of Tromsø said in a statement that they had “confiscated a large amount of photographic equipment, including a drone and a cache of memory cards.”
She said the seized material included photos of an airfield in Kirkenes, in the far north, not far from the border with Russia, and Norwegian army helicopters.
Norway has been on high alert since a mysterious drone was spotted near offshore oil and gas platforms.
As the Ukrainian invasion significantly reduced Russian energy supplies, that kingdom overtook Russia as the main supplier of natural gas to Western Europe.
In the wake of leaks reported last month on the two Nord Stream gas pipelines connecting Russian territory to Germany across the Baltic Sea, which is widely believed to be a result of sabotage, and the discovery of drones, Norway has beefed up security around its energy facilities.
Like many other Western countries, Russia has been banned from flying over its territory due to the military offensive in Ukraine.
Failure to comply with this prohibition is punishable by imprisonment for three years.
The Norwegian police announced, on Friday, that they had arrested another Russian, on Tuesday, across the border in the Far North, and in possession of two drones and a series of photos and videos.
This 50-year-old man, Vitaly Rostanov, who was returning home by car, was arrested at the Storskog border point, the only crossing point between Norway and Russia.
He admitted flying drones “all over the country”, but denied any wrongdoing. He was detained on Friday for two weeks.
He had two Russian passports and an Israeli passport.
Present in Norway since August, it has hidden four terabytes of partially encrypted photos and videos.
