Vania Beerkus and Angela Nikolaou standing with a banner atop the antenna at the peak of the Empire State Building. July 1, 2026. Photo: Reuters.
Police have arrested a Russian couple at the summit of the famous Empire State Building in New York, USA.
Video footage captured from a US media helicopter shows two individuals dressed in black standing atop the historic skyscraper’s main antenna—apparently kissing each other—on Wednesday.
While positioned approximately 443 meters (1,454 feet) above the ground, the couple unfurled a banner. It read: “When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.”
It remains unclear how the pair reached the antenna, which is located far above the section of the 102-story Empire State Building open to the public.
Police body-cam footage shows an officer being sent up to bring the two individuals down from the antenna.
As he climbed the ladder, the officer could be heard asking, “What are you doing?” Their response was inaudible due to the sound of the wind. Later, the officer said, “Okay, you can’t stay here.”
The video shows the officer breathing heavily while climbing the ladder. The police body-cam footage was released late yesterday.
The arrested couple are Russian citizens Vanya Beerkus and Angela Nikolau. They appeared in the 2024 Netflix documentary Skywalkers: A Love Story, which showcased their passion for “rooftopping”—the risky activity of climbing tall city buildings.
Meanwhile, when asked by the news agency Reuters whether he was worried about his daughter’s stunt, Angela’s father, Dmitry Nikolau, said, “What is there for me to be worried about?” “I climb the roofs of various buildings myself.”
Reuters reported that Dmitri Nikolaou is a Russian circus performer. He was already aware that his daughter was planning to climb the Empire State Building.
Nikolaou told Reuters, “I think that in any country—including the United States—and under any constitution, climbing to the roof of a building is a completely normal thing to do.” However, the authorities at the Empire State Building did not view the matter as normal at all.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the building described the couple’s actions as “illegal.” He remarked that to celebrate their engagement, the couple should have purchased the building’s “Happy Ever Empire Proposal Package”—priced at $1,000—before making the proposal.
