Multiple drone sightings over Norwegian energy facilities; seven Russians arrested for illegal aerial activity

In October 2022, weeks after the Nord Stream pipeline explosions in the Baltic Sea, Norway reported a wave of unexplained drone sightings near offshore oil and gas platforms, onshore energy terminals, and airports. The country had become Western Europe's largest natural gas supplier following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and authorities raised security around energy installations. Investigators treated as credible reported sightings near the Sleipner field in the North Sea and over the Karsto gas treatment facility in southwestern Norway, while drone observations and airport disruptions added to the alarm.

Over a span of several days, Norwegian police detained at least seven Russian citizens for flying drones or photographing sensitive sites, with arrests reported in locations including Tromso, Mosjoen, Kirkenes, and the Storskog border crossing. One man, identified as 50-year-old Vitaly Rustanov, was stopped at Storskog carrying two drones and a large cache of photos and videos, some encrypted; he was placed in two weeks of provisional custody. Police official Anja Indbjor said Rustanov claimed he was in Norway as a tourist and had photographed for private reasons.

Separately, on 17 October 2022, Andrei Yakunin, a 47-year-old dual Russian-British citizen and son of former Russian Railways chief and Putin associate Vladimir Yakunin, was arrested in Hammerfest after flying drones around Svalbard and along the coast from his yacht. He was charged under Norway's sanctions rules barring Russian citizens from flying drones over Norwegian territory.

Norwegian officials hedged on attribution. Hedvig Moe, deputy chief of the Police Security Service (PST), said the flights were carried out in a way that made it difficult to determine who was behind them. Outcomes varied: in December 2022 a district court acquitted Yakunin, ruling that small hobby drones were not covered by the flight ban.

The arrests and seized equipment are documented fact, but the intent behind the drone activity remains suspected rather than proven. The timing, immediately after Nord Stream and amid heightened concern over Russian threats to Norwegian energy infrastructure, fueled fears of coordinated reconnaissance or hybrid probing. Norwegian authorities themselves cautioned that responsibility was hard to attribute. Some detainees were released and at least one prosecution collapsed in court when judges found small drones fell outside the sanctions ban, underscoring that legal proof of espionage was not established in these specific cases.