For the time being, only one charge has been brought against Laurent Vinatier. The forty-year-old is accused of not having registered as a “foreign agent”.
Arrested and placed in pretrial detention since June 7, Laurent Vinatier, a collaborator of the Swiss NGO Center for Humanitarian Dialogue (HD), is accused by the Russian authorities of having collected military information. Russian investigators accuse him of not having registered as “foreign agent”. The 47-year-old Frenchman admitted his guilt during interrogation, the Russian Security Service (FSB) said on Wednesday, July 3.
“During his visits to Moscow, Laurent Vinatier established numerous contacts with representatives of expert and scientific circles (political scientists, sociologists, economists, military experts), as well as with civil servants.”the FSB said in a statement on Wednesday. “By communicating with these people, the Frenchman collected, in particular, military and military-technical information that could be used against the security of the Russian Federation by foreign special services.” he added about this man, a specialist in the post-Soviet space and involved in attempts at informal mediation in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.
This (communication from the Investigation Committee)during which the courts must decide on the extension of his pre-trial detention (it is supposed to end on August 5) and the conditions of this possible extension.
For the moment, the only charge brought against Laurent Vinatier is not having registered as “foreign agent” inasmuch as “a person who deliberately collected information on the military and military-technical activities of the Russian Federation”. The legislation on “foreign agents” is widely used by Russian authorities to repress or monitor their critics. The offence is punishable by up to five years in prison. If the charges are ever reclassified as “spying”the Frenchman will face much harsher sentences, up to 20 years in prison.
The affair comes in a climate of acute confrontation between Moscow and Paris: Russia is suspected of a series of acts of destabilization and disinformation in France, while France is criticized for its growing support for Ukraine.