Russian investigators said on Thursday they had detained a French citizen in Moscow on suspicion of gathering intelligence on Russian military activities, adding to the list of foreign citizens held in Ukraine since the invasion.
Russia’s state news agency TASS identified the detainee as Laurent Vinatier, citing its law enforcement sources. The agency said Mr. Vinatier was employed as a consultant by the Swiss nonprofit Center for Humanitarian Dialogue.
The center’s mission is “to prevent and resolve armed conflicts around the world through mediation and discreet diplomacy,” the center says on its website.
The nonprofit confirmed in response to a request for comment that Mr. Vinatier worked as a consultant and was detained in Russia.
“We are working to learn more details about the situation and secure Laurent’s release,” the center said.
Vinatier has been working with the nonprofit since 2014 as a consultant on the Russia/Eurasia project, according to his profile on the social network LinkedIn. He lists “conducting meetings,” “meditating,” and “delivering messages” as his responsibilities. He also serves as a risk consultant, researcher and lecturer at various schools and institutes, with Russia being his main focus.
Since the outbreak of all-out war in Ukraine, Western journalists and researchers visiting or living in Russia have found working in the country increasingly risky as they are mired in the worst relationship crisis between Moscow and the West in decades.
Russia’s State Investigative Committee said in a statement that the detained French national would be charged for failing to register as a “foreign agent”, a charge that carries a penalty of up to five years in prison.
The statement said that during multiple visits to Russia, the detainees held meetings with Russian citizens to “purposefully collect information in the field of Russian military and military-technical activities” and that this information “could be used to harm national security.”
The agency released a video showing security officials detaining a man wearing jeans and a black shirt who was sitting on the balcony outside a restaurant in central Moscow. In the video, the man’s face is blurred.
Vinatier joins a list of Westerners detained by Russia that includes Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich; Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine; Alsu Kurmasheva is the editor of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
Russian-American Yuri Maleev was sentenced to three and a half years in a penal colony for posting memes and other posts critical of the country, its leadership and the war in Ukraine, a St. Petersburg court said on Wednesday.
The detention of Westerners in Russia in recent years has raised concerns that the Kremlin is trying to use them as bargaining chips in exchange for Russians imprisoned in the West.
Aurelien Breeden Contributed reporting.
