Now Europe's main supplier of natural gas, Norway has been on high alert since mysterious unmanned aircraft were spotted near strategic sites, including oil and gas platforms far offshore over the past few weeks.
The 34-year-old Russian citizen, who said he left Russia to escape President Vladimir Putin
...President-for-Life of Russia. He gets along well with other presidents for life. He is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substance. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to him. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substances...'s partial mobilization order, was found guilty of flying a drone "on several occasions" in southern Norway between October 13 and 20, a district court in Bergen said in its verdict.
While he only photographed and filmed the landscape, this violated a flight ban that Norway, like several other Western countries, imposed on Russians following the invasion of Ukraine.
The man, who runs a small travel agency, defended himself by arguing that he was not aware of the ban.
The prosecution had asked for 120 days in prison, and his lawyer had asked for an acquittal.
Nearly a dozen Russians have been arrested in Norway in recent weeks for violating the flight ban or the ban on photographing sites deemed sensitive, as the country has heightened security around strategic infrastructure.
Wednesday's verdict is the first known prison sentence for violating the ban in Norway.
Last month, the Russian embassy in Oslo criticized what it said was a "psychosis" in Norway, a NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis....
member with which Russia shares a 198-kilometre (123-mile) border in the far north.
