Kremlin denounces brief detention of Russian government employee in France

On Wednesday, the Kremlin criticized the brief detention on Sunday in France of a Russian government employee at Charles de Gaulle Airport, stating it “further worsens” the already strained relations between Paris and Moscow.

According to Moscow, an employee of the Russian Foreign Ministry was held on Sunday for a day by border services at this major airport near Paris before being allowed to enter France. Relations between Moscow and Paris have been icy since the Kremlin launched its large-scale offensive against Ukraine, supported by France, over three years ago.

“We condemn such actions by France and consider them unacceptable (...) This further damages our already battered bilateral relations,” said Dmitri Peskov, the spokesperson for the Russian presidency, during a briefing attended by AFP.

For now, French authorities have not responded to these accusations. Earlier, Russian diplomacy announced on Wednesday that it had summoned the new French ambassador to Moscow, Nicolas de Rivière, to the Russian Foreign Ministry headquarters.

“What happened on April 6 at Charles de Gaulle Airport is inexplicable,” stated Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova during her weekly briefing. “French border services detained a Russian Foreign Ministry employee, a member of the official Russian delegation, without explanation and seized her phone and computer,” she recounted. A Russian “consular officer” was quickly dispatched to the scene before being able to talk with the detained employee. “Following the steps taken, our colleague was finally allowed to enter the country, but she had to spend a day in the airport's border area,” denounced Zakharova.

“Existential threat”

The Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman added that Moscow had communicated its “strong protest” to the French ambassador to Moscow when summoned to the Foreign Ministry, on an unspecified date. “We have no intention of leaving this situation without consequences,” Zakharova also warned after this new diplomatic incident.

In recent months, Russia has been accused of a series of destabilizing and misinformation acts on French territory, while France has been criticized for its military and diplomatic support to Kyiv.

In February, French President Emmanuel Macron, very active on the diplomatic front alongside Ukraine, described Russia as an “existential threat to Europeans.”

In Russian public media, the French government has been the subject of numerous criticisms, especially since the warming of relations between Moscow and the United States, encouraged by Donald Trump, which previously were the main target of attacks.

Following the Russian assault on Ukraine, France expelled 41 Russian diplomats who, according to it, were conducting espionage activities under the guise of the embassy in Paris. In response, Moscow declared 34 French diplomats as personæ non gratæ on its territory.

In this very tense context, a French researcher, Laurent Vinatier, was sentenced in Oct. 2024 by a Moscow court to three years in prison for failing to register as a “foreign agent.” Paris has repeatedly denounced the “arbitrary” conviction and called for his “immediate release.”