Vladimir Yakunin is considered a close confidante of Kremlin chief Putin. For years, the oligarch with a KGB background has been doing shady deals in Europe, supporting right-wing movements. His son is now being caught by the Norwegian police. The arrest of Andrei Jalunin probably has nothing to do with his father’s activities.
In Norway, the son of former Russian railway chief and Putin confidant Vladimir Yakunin has been arrested for illegal drone flights over the Spitsbergen archipelago. A court in Finnmark province ordered 47-year-old Andrei Yakunin to be detained for two weeks. According to the police, Yakunin has both Russian and British citizenship. Two drones and other electronic devices were confiscated and are currently being investigated, the authorities said.
According to a report by the news portal The Barents Observer, Yakunin insisted in court that he should be considered a British citizen and live in Italy. “He admitted operating the drone, but he had no reason to believe it was illegal,” Yakunin’s lawyer said after the court hearing. The lawyer announced that he would appeal the decision.
Andrei Yakunin is a businessman and has lived in London, among other places, for more than ten years. According to research by opposition politician Alexei Navalny’s anti-corruption foundation and the Times, he owns at least two villas there. In 2015 he received British citizenship. As the Navalany team explained after their research in 2015, “most of his ‘successful deals’ are inseparable from Russian Railways”.
Andrei Yakunin’s father, Vladimir Yakunin, was president of the state railway company RZD from 2005 to 2015. The influential oligarch is considered a close confidante of Putin. In mid-August, independent journalists from Germany, Austria, Great Britain and Russia published the results of years of research into Vladimir Yakunin’s networks in Europe. Accordingly, the oligarch’s family – including his son Andrei – is involved in questionable real estate transactions throughout Europe. In addition, Yakunin is said to have founded and financed numerous right-wing, anti-democratic and pro-Kremlin initiatives.
According to the research, Vladimir Yakunin is one of Putin’s oldest companions and is known for his national-conservative worldview. In Soviet times, Yakunin worked for the KGB secret service for more than 20 years. There he is said to have met the current head of the Kremlin, Putin. After the annexation of Crimea in 2014, the US imposed sanctions on him. After Russian troops invaded Ukraine in February, Vladimir Yakunin was also included on the British sanctions list. In response, his son Andrei, in an interview with Italian television channel La7, condemned the invasion and claimed that he “never voted for Putin and his party.”
At least seven Russian citizens were arrested in Norway within a few days. They are accused of illegally operating unmanned aerial vehicles or taking illicit photographs in Norway, which borders Russia and is now Europe’s largest gas supplier.
