(ImpactHeadlines.com) – Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) claims that a French researcher admitted to collecting sensitive military information. Laurent Claude Jean-Louis Vinatier, who works with the Swiss non-profit Center for Humanitarian Dialogue in Russia, is accused of collecting data that could harm Russia and failing to register as a foreign agent.
Police arrested Vinatier on June 6, and a court subsequently detained him until an additional hearing is arranged in August. Witnesses told authorities that Mr. Vinatier questioned them as part of his data collection and that those conversations were recorded. Confronted with the reality that law enforcement had access to the recordings, Vinatier reportedly pleaded guilty.
Critics say that the arrest and detention are part of a growing conflict between Russia and France and that Moscow authorities will likely crack down on French citizens and begin detaining them, mainly on espionage charges.
Russian law enforcement, for instance, has jailed several Americans for alleged espionage, and experts say Moscow intends to use them as a bargaining chip in relations with the US.
One of the highest-profile cases is that of Evan Gershkovich, a 32-year-old Wall Street Journal reporter who was arrested in Yekaterinburg in 2023 and jailed for “gathering secret information” for the CIA.
Additionally, 54-year-old Paul Whelan has been in a Russian prison since 2018, accused of espionage. US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken says Whelan and his family are living through an unimaginable ordeal and condemns the conviction as politically motivated. “His detention remains unacceptable, and we continue to press for his immediate release at every opportunity,” Blinken said.
Donald Trump has promised to bring Americans home from Russia if he is re-elected in November. At their first Presidential debate in Atlanta, Trump accused President Biden of weakness and failing American prisoners abroad. He said he would bring them back to America without paying large sums to the Russian government. He claimed he rescued dozens of US citizens from foreign jails during his first term.
Copyright 2024, ImpactHeadlines.com
