The Kremlin on Thursday said it was in contact with the French authorities over the fate of a French political scholar serving a three-year sentence in Russia and reportedly facing new charges of espionage.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Russia has made ''an offer to the French'' regarding Laurent Vinatier, arrested in Moscow last year and convicted of collecting military information, and that ''the ball is now in France's court.'' He refused to provide details, citing the sensitivity of the matter.
The French Foreign Ministry said Thursday it had no comment.
Peskov's remarks come after journalist Jérôme Garro of the French TF1 TV channel asked President Vladimir Putin during his annual news conference on Dec. 19 whether Vinatier's family could hope for a presidential pardon or his release in a prisoner exchange. Putin said he knew ''nothing'' about the case, but promised to look into it.
Vinatier was arrested in Moscow in June 2024. Russian authorities accused him of failing to register as a ''foreign agent'' while collecting information about Russia's ''military and military-technical activities'' that could be used to the detriment of national security. The charges carry a maximum penalty of five years in prison.
The arrest came as tensions flared between Moscow and Paris following French President Emmanuel Macron's comments about the possibility of deploying French troops in Ukraine.
Vinatier's lawyers asked the court to sentence him to a fine, but the judge in October 2024 handed him a three-year prison term — a sentence described as ''extremely severe'' by France's Foreign Ministry, which called for the scholar's immediate release.
Detentions on charges of spying and collecting sensitive data have become increasingly frequent in Russia and its heavily politicized legal system since Moscow invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
