In their review of the seized equipment, police found photos of the airport in Kirkenes, a Norwegian town near the Russian border, and of a Norwegian military helicopter.
The man, who was not identified, faces charges of flying a drone in Norway, the police said. In February, shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Norway’s Civil Aviation Authority banned Russians from flying or operating aircraft — including drones — in Norway. The law prohibits Russian-registered and Russian-operated aircraft from landing in, taking off from or flying over Norway.
The man does not live in Norway, police said, and entered the country Thursday through Storskog, a city on Norway’s northern coast, near Russia. Police said he was heading to Svalbard, an archipelago in the Arctic that is part of Norway, though Russia has some rights to the natural resources in the area, and there are Russian settlements on Svalbard.
The arrest comes amid heightened security concerns in Norway over the past week: Another Russian man was arrested last week after customs officers found two drones in his luggage at the border crossing in Storskog, the Associated Press reported. He said in court that had been in the country since August and had flown drones throughout the country.
There were numerous drone sightings last week at sensitive locations including the Kårstø gas plant, near the city of Stavanger in southwestern Norway. A bomb threat, which was later found to not be credible, at a gas plant last week forced evacuations and briefly stopped operations.
Last month, the country’s oil safety regulator urged oil companies to be more vigilant over drones near offshore oil and gas platforms, saying they pose a risk of accidents or “deliberate attacks,” after the majority state-owned oil and gas firm Equinor said it had notified authorities of sightings of drones near some of its platforms.
European officials have alleged that breaches of three underwater natural gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea were sabotage. The incidents raised concern over the security of the energy infrastructure in the region, and many were quick to point fingers at Russia.
Norway is increasingly central to Europe’s energy security amid the war in Ukraine; it has taken Russia’s place as the European Union’s leading natural gas supplier.
Along its northernmost reaches, NATO-member Norway shares a 120-mile border with Russia. The war prompted Norway’s Scandinavian neighbors Finland and Sweden to seek accession to the treaty.
