I was interested in this question, live-line work can be done at 220-380 volts. At 10,000 volts, work is only done on a switched-off line. But I read that in other countries people also connect to high-voltage lines to steal electricity. Most likely, in this case, there were no transformers or other connection methods nearby.
11kv is meduim voltage not high, and as I said, it is very common to perform live-line work on medium voltage lines, not sure why is that not done
that in Russia, have you confirmed that?
anyway still, even if the electric company does not approve it, people with the right tools can still do it and it isn't as 'hard' as you may think.