A 40-year-old Russian national was arrested by French police Tuesday on suspicion of plotting acts of destabilization during the Paris Olympics, which begin Friday.
The man, whose name was not revealed, was arrested Sunday and charged Tuesday night with "intelligence with a foreign power with a view to provoking hostilities in France," French newspaper Le Parisien reported. He was placed in pretrial detention. If convicted, he reportedly faces up to 30 years in prison.
A search of the man's home by agents of the General Directorate of Internal Security, France's version of the FBI, found "elements that suggest that he was preparing pro-Russian operations to destabilize France during the Olympic Games," Le Parisien reported, citing a source close to the investigation.
Another source told Le Parisien of "a large-scale project," the consequences of which could have been "serious." Few details were given except that the case was not terrorist in nature, and that anti-terrorist prosecutors were not following the case.
Because of the Olympics, France has conducted more than a million checks on volunteers, workers, and other people involved, Le Parisien reported. The background checks led to the exclusion of 5,000 people, including 1,000 suspected of foreign interference.
"We can talk about espionage," said Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin, particularly targeting Russia, Le Parisien reported. "We are here to ensure that sport is not used for espionage, cyberattacks, or to criticize and sometimes even lie about France and the French."
France suspects Russia to be behind destabilization campaigns for several months, The Moscow Times reported, citing Agence France-Presse, including dummy coffins labeled "French soldiers in Ukraine" left by the Eiffel Tower in June and red hands tagged on Paris' main Holocaust memorial in May.
In October, soon after Iranian-backed Hamas' terrorist attack in southern Israel, stars of David were tagged on buildings in the Paris region, with two Moldovans suspected to be working for the Russian FSB security service later arrested, according to The Moscow Times.
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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