PARIS (Reuters) – French police have arrested a Russian man suspected of planning to destabilize the Olympics, the Paris prosecutor’s office said on Wednesday, just days before the Games begin.
The 40-year-old man was detained on Tuesday after police raided his house at the request of the Interior Ministry, the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.
The evidence found at his home raised “fears of his intention to organize events likely to cause destabilization during the Olympic Games,” it said.
Relations between France and Russia have been deteriorating for months as President Emmanuel Macron is a prominent critic of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine and a strong supporter of the Kyiv government.
French authorities have repeatedly flagged suspected Russian disinformation campaigns, while Russia has arrested a French researcher in the country on espionage charges.
The arrested man has been placed in pre-trial detention and could face up to 30 years in prison, the statement said.
Russia’s embassy in Paris said it had not received official notification of the detention.
“We proactively asked them for clarification. We will seek a reaction,” it said in a statement.
The Olympics kick off on Friday with a spectacular but logistically fraught opening ceremony along the River Seine.
France has rolled out its biggest ever security operation to safeguard the Games, which take place against a backdrop of wars in Ukraine and Gaza.
French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin, speaking in a radio interview, said the Russian man was suspected of planning “destabilization,” which could take the form of disinformation or other types of attack.
Le Monde, citing several European intelligence agencies, said authorities had found an identity card on the Russian man that suggested he worked for a unit under the command of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB).
Last month, French police arrested a 26-year-old Ukranian-Russian man after he blew himself up with explosive materials in a hotel room north of Paris. He was being investigated by France’s domestic spy agency on suspicion of participation in a terrorist conspiracy and bomb plot.
Also in June, Russia arrested French researcher Laurent Vinatier for allegedly failing to register as a foreign agent while gathering information on the Russian military.
He is part of a growing list of foreign nationals detained in Russia who have found themselves caught up in the crisis in relations between Russia and the West during the Ukraine war.
(Reporting by Gabriel Stargardter and Juliette Jabkhiro; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
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