France detains four people, including two Russians, suspected of espionage
French police have apprehended four people, two of whom have Russian nationality, on suspicion of spying for a foreign power, the Paris prosecutor said on Wednesday.
The prosecutor’s office identified one of the persons as Anna N, a dual French-Russian national who has been under monitoring by France’s DGSI domestic intelligence agency since January on suspicion of gathering intelligence.
In an emailed statement, the prosecutor said, “In particular, she was suspected of having approached executives of various French companies in order to obtain information relating to French economic interests.”
The prosecutor’s office did not identify the country the four people are suspected of spying for.
The others were identified as Vincent P and Bernard F, who were born in France and Vyacheslav P, a Russian national.
According to the prosecutor’s office, Anna N founded SOS Donbass, a France-based association which says on its website that it campaigns for closer ties between Europe and Russia and the end of arms deliveries to Ukraine. It often displays campaign posters in public places.
Anna faces up to 45 years in prison and 600,000 euros ($694,500.00) in fines for a variety of offences, including involvement in the destruction of ancient heritage sites, organised crime, spying, and foreign information gathering.
The others also face jail terms and fines on similar charges.
