A former paratrooper trying to walk around the world was being questioned by Russian security services yesterday after becoming the first Briton to cross the perilous ice bridge from Alaska to Russia on foot.

Karl Bushby, 36, was detained by the Federal Security Service (FSB) after reaching Russia on Friday, halfway through a 36,000-mile walk from South America to Britain that he began in 1998. FSB border guards also detained Dimitri Kieffer, a 40-year-old runner with French and US citizenship, who joined Mr Bushby for the two-week trek across the 55-mile Bering Strait.

The strait was a no-go area during the Cold War, and the only previous recorded crossing was by a Russian father and son in 1998.

The FSB was unimpressed by Mr Bushby's achievement. It said that he and his colleague, who were apprehended in the remote northeastern region of Chukotka, had valid Russian business visas but had crossed the border illegally and were being held for questioning.

“The American and the Briton did not notify the Russian side through official channels of their crossing, which not only violated border legislation, but also put their lives in serious danger,” an FSB spokesman said.

The men were carrying satellite telephones, navigation equipment, a video camera and a handgun. The British Embassy said that Mr Bushby was staying in a hotel in Chukotka while the authorities checked his story. “We hope this will be resolved quickly and that he'll be allowed to continue his journey,” a spokesman said.

Mr Bushby's father, Keith, told The Times from his home in Hereford that he had tried to get permission for his son to enter Chukotka on foot, but had been frustrated by red tape.

Mr Bushby, from Hull, who spent 11 years in the Paratroop regiment, set out from Punta Arenas near the southern tip of Chile in 1998 with a budget of $500 (£280). He has so far walked 17,000 miles, crossing the Andes, the jungles of Central America, the Nevada Desert and the Rockies.

The remaining 19,000 miles will take him across Russia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, and continental Europe. He expects to get home to Hull by about 2009, having walked through the Channel Tunnel.

Mr Bushby last spoke to his father shortly after reaching Russia. “His first words were ‘Terra firma!',” the elder Mr Bushby said. “He was elated.”

Source: Timesonline