Russian chef arrested in reference to plot to destabilise France

A Russian chef has been arrested in France in connection to a ‘large scale’ plot to destabilise France during the Olympics.

The 40-year-old man was arrested during a raid of his apartment in central Paris on Sunday where a document linked to a Russian special forces unit operating under the FSB, an heir to the KGB, was reportedly found.

A judicial investigation has now been opened into allegations of ‘sharing intelligence with a foreign power with a view to provoking hostilities in France’ – a crime punishable by 30 years of imprisonment.

Prosecutors in Paris said the search of the Russian national’s apartment on Rue Saint-Denis on the right bank of the Seine, had been carried out under the orders of the French interior ministry.

According to French media, the agents who stormed the unnamed man’s apartment discovered ‘elements that suggest that he was preparing pro-Russian operations to destabilise France during the Olympic Games’. 

Agents also found evidence suggesting the man was planning a ‘large-scale project’ that could have had ‘serious’ consequences during the three weeks of games.

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). 

The French newspaper also reported that the intelligence services had listened into a call in May between the man and a Russian intelligence services handler.

Here, they heard the suspect stating that ‘the French are going to have an opening ceremony like there has never been before’.

Le Monde revealed that the man had been trained as a chef in Paris after first arriving in 2010, and that he had participated in Russian reality and cooking TV shows.

While spending 14 years in France, he spent some time working in a Michelin star restaurant in the Courchevel ski resort popular among the Russian elite, before moving to Paris in 2012.

According to 2012 emails seen by the French outlet, the suspect had told his landlady that he was returning to Moscow to work as an official in the Russian government.

Intelligence services, with their growing suspicions, tracked him for months and picked up on the call to his alleged handler two months ago while he was returning to Paris from Istanbul.

He had missed his flight due to excessive drinking and instead returned home via Bulgaria when the conversation about the Olympic opening ceremony was monitored, according to the newspaper.

The French interior minister, Gérald Darmanin, said this week that authorities had screened over one million people ahead of the games.

‘We are here to ensure that sport is not used for espionage, cyberattacks or to criticise and sometimes even lie about France and the French,’ Darmanin said.

 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.   

Armed guards have been spotted patrolling the city’s boulevards and venues, while metal barriers now line the Seine.

The four-mile metal barricade was put in place by the Paris Police Prefecture and will remain throughout the Games to prevent and deter any trouble.

Dubbed the SILT, or the ‘belt of steel’ the anti-terrorism fencing is ultimately the first line of defence and were initially erected on July 18.

Anyone who wants to enter the protected area will need to scan a QR code to me it into the gated part of the city.

All cars are also banned from entering certain zones around some of the event venues with solely emergency vehicles allowed through.

A huge force of some 45,000 police officers drafted in from 43 countries and 18,000 soldiers will make up the defence system.

But alongside human efforts, several aerial units will also be involved in the ‘unprecedented’ operation, including Rafale fighter jets, AWACS surveillance flights, Reaper surveillance drones and helicopters with expert snipers on board.

Some 1,700 members of the British police force are already supporting French officers in Paris and Marseille as well as UK sniffer dogs that have been handpicked by French authorities.

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.

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.