The arrest of a Russian man in Paris, reportedly a former reality-TV chef, over a suspected “destabilisation” plot targeting the Paris Olympics underscores French concerns that Moscow is looking to undermine the event from afar. The man, born in 1984, was detained at his home in Paris this week and is suspected of “passing intelligence to a foreign power in order to arouse hostilities in France,” a statement from prosecutors said on Tuesday. Le Monde newspaper said police had found documents “of diplomatic interest” at his apartment and he was suspected of working for the Russian FSB intelligence service after appearances in reality TV shows and a stint as a chef in a French ski resort.
“We think very strongly that he was going to organise operations of destabilisation, interference, spying,” Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin told BFM television on Wednesday.
“He’s now in the justice system which will be able to confirm the suspicions of the police.”
Darmanin said that “other Russian individuals” had been arrested by the Paris police and that French authorities had noted a campaign of disinformation aimed at raising fears and discrediting the Paris Games, which start Friday.
“We saw a video which purports to be someone from (Palestinian militant group) Hamas… who announces an attack in the next few days and comes because France is going to welcome Israeli athletes,” he said.
“We’re not sure, but it looks like it is fake and has been spread by pro-Kremlin and pro-Russian channels.”
French authorities are on high alert for cyber attacks, disinformation and other covert operations.
Almost all of Moscow’s athletes have been excluded from the Paris Olympics over the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine, with only 15 set to compete as neutrals.
Darmanin revealed at the weekend that Paris had rejected a “large number” of applications from Russian citizens for media accreditation to cover the Games over suspicions they were undercover spies.
Many Russians were also refused permission to be volunteers.
‘No doubt’
In recent months, several high-profile stunts intended to influence French public opinion have also led French officials to point the finger at Moscow.
They include dummy coffins labelled “French soldiers in Ukraine” left by the Eiffel Tower in June — and red hands tagged on Paris’s main Holocaust memorial in May.
In October, soon after Hamas’s attack on Israel which sparked the ongoing war in Gaza, stars of David were tagged on buildings in the Paris region, with two Moldovans suspected to be working for the FSB later arrested.
The arrest of a Russian-Ukrainian man in June at a hotel at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris also raised concerns of bombings.
The man injured himself with an explosive in his room and investigators have since discovered that he was meant to plant it front of DIY store in Paris as part of a sabotage campaign, Le Monde reported.
Russia has denied any involvement in any of the plots attributed to it by French officials.
It said refusing accreditations for Russian journalists at the Games “violates freedom of the media.”
Asked whether Russia would target the Games in April, French President Emmanuel Macron said he had “no doubt whatsoever.”
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