(Moscow) Russia announced that it wanted to present to a judge on Friday the Frenchman, Laurent Vinatier, working for a Swiss conflict resolution NGO and arrested the day before in Moscow, a case occurring in the midst of worsening Russian-French tensions.
He is suspected of illegally gathering information on Russia’s military activities, but has been formally prosecuted at this stage for violating a law dealing with “foreign agents”, legislation used by Moscow to suppress its critics, and a misdemeanor punishable by five years in prison.
But the language of the investigators, who speak of “targeted collection of information in the field of Russia’s military and military-technical activities,” suggests even more serious prosecutions.
The information he would have collected, “if obtained by foreign sources, could be used against the security of the Russian state,” said the same source without further details.
According to sources interviewed by AFP, Mr. Vinatier, born in 1976, had been working for many years on the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, as part of discreet parallel diplomatic efforts by States. The employer of this Frenchman, the Swiss NGO Center for Humanitarian Dialogue, requested “the release” of his colleague on Thursday.
“Investigators intend to ask the Zamoskvoretsky District Court of Moscow to issue a security measure against the defendant,” the Russian Investigative Committee said, without specifying whether it would request preventive detention as is usually the case in such cases.
French President Emmanuel Macron indicated Thursday evening on French television that “in no case was he someone who worked, who works for France” and that he indeed worked for a Swiss NGO “which does diplomacy “.
Mr. Vinatier had been working for years on the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, triggered in 2014 by the Russian annexation of Crimea and a pro-Russian rebellion in eastern Ukraine. According to several sources interviewed by AFP, he was engaged in discreet diplomacy, traveling to both Russia and Ukraine even after the Russian assault on February 24, 2022.
HD mediators indeed worked confidentially and outside the constraints of traditional diplomacy, which allows informal contacts between adversaries, but also exposes these actors to accusations of espionage.
Christophe Lemoine, spokesperson for the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, indicated that Paris had “demanded information from the (Russian) Investigative Committee on the reason for the arrest of our compatriot.”
The announced arrest of this Frenchman comes at a time when Russian-French tensions are increasing, precisely because of Ukraine.
Paris is trying to convince its allies to send military instructors to this country to train Ukrainian troops, who are in difficulty facing Moscow’s forces. Mr. Macron also spoke of sending troops, sparking anger in the Kremlin and new threats of escalation.
In addition, the arrest came the day after the arrest of a Russian-Ukrainian, suspected of having planned violent action in France, less than two months before the start of the Olympic Games in Paris, a security challenge for the French authorities.
Among the actions for which the hand of Moscow is suspected: coffins installed in early June at the foot of the Eiffel Tower, tags in May on the Holocaust memorial, blue Stars of David stencilled in Paris and its suburbs in October 2023.
Russia holds several Americans in its prisons and is accused of making such arrests and then negotiating prisoner exchanges to free its agents.
This is particularly the case of American journalist Evan Gershkovich, accused of spying in Russia despite his denials, those of his relatives, his country and his employer. Moscow seems to want to exchange him for a man convicted in Germany of having committed an assassination on behalf of the Russian special services.