A French national working for a Geneva-based organization has been detained by Russia on charges that he was collecting intelligence on the country’s military and neglected to register as a “foreign agent.”
Laurent Vinatier, 48, is accused of having “purposefully collected information in the field of military and military-technical activities of the Russian Federation” over a number of years, according to the official Investigative Committee of Russia, which claimed such information might be used against the security of the state.
The committee, which looks into big crimes, posted a brief video of masked police officers approaching a man wearing black T-shirt and jeans on the terrace of a restaurant in the center of Moscow, and then leading him into a police vehicle.
“We are aware that Laurent Vinatier, an adviser at the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, has been detained in Russia,” the Geneva-based group said in a statement. “We are working to get more details of the circumstances and to secure Laurent’s release.”
The French foreign ministry said that it was informed of the fellow national’s detention and that its embassy in Moscow had asked the Russian authorities for further information as well as consular protection for the man.
French citizen Laurent Vinatier, detained in Russia yesterday, pleaded guilty to violating “foreign agent” rules and collecting data on Russian military activities. pic.twitter.com/cLntHHLw5j
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) June 7, 2024
According to his LinkedIn page, Vinatier is a political analyst, consultant, and researcher whose work focuses on Russia and other post-Soviet countries.
Russia has in the past arrested individuals under the guise of “foreign agent” before filing more severe allegations. Last year, US-Russian journalist Alsu Kurmasheva was charged with a similar offense and later faced a more serious case of disseminating “false information” against the army.
