Laurent Vinatier was sentenced to three years in prison for violating Russia’s so-called ‘foreign agent’ law.
A French researcher serving a three-year sentence in Russia has been freed in a prisoner swap with Moscow, French and Russian officials said.
President Emmanuel Macron announced the release of Laurent Vinatier, jailed for violating Russia’s so-called “foreign agents” law, saying the researcher was “free and back in France”.
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“I offer my condolences to his family and loved ones. My thanks to our diplomatic agents for their mobilization”, Macron said on Thursday.
Russia’s FSB security service announced that Vinatier, 49, had been swapped for basketball player Daniil Kasatkin, 26.
Kasatkin was arrested at a Paris airport last June and wanted by the United States for his alleged involvement in ransomware attacks – a charge Kasatkin has previously denied.
Vinatier was pardoned by President Vladimir Putin last month after a French journalist raised the issue at the Kremlin leader’s annual news conference, the FSB said.
In June 2024, Vinatier was arrested by the FSB in a Moscow restaurant and four months later was convicted of violating the law on persons believed to be “foreign agents” to register with Russian authorities.
While in prison, he was placed under additional investigation for espionage and faced further trial in the coming months.
The FSB said the researcher, acting on instructions from Swiss intelligence, gathered sensitive political and military information, including combat and training plans that could target Moscow’s security.
However, it said the case against Vinatier was dismissed due to his “active remorse”.
Before his arrest, Vinatier worked for the Center for Humanitarian Dialogue, a Swiss-based conflict mediation organization, where he was respected by fellow scholars.
At his trial, the researcher said he loved Russia, apologized for breaking the law and even recited a poem by Russian poet Alexander Pushkin.
Frédéric Bellot, a lawyer representing Vinatier, said the decision was a “great relief”.
“We are very happy that he was released for Orthodox Christmas,” added Bellot, who also represents Kasatkin.
Franco-Russian relations
Relations between Paris and Moscow have deteriorated in the wake of Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
While Macron has been outspoken in supporting Kiev’s military efforts with other European allies, including the UK, he has also expressed a desire to engage with Russia to end the war.
On Thursday, Moscow condemned a security plan agreed in the French capital Paris by Ukraine and its European allies to deploy peacekeeping forces as an “axis of war”.
Earlier this week, European leaders and the United States envoy announced that Kiev’s security guarantees would include a US-led monitoring mechanism and a European multinational force in the event of a ceasefire.
However, Moscow rejected the plan.
“All such units and facilities will be considered legitimate military targets for the Russian Armed Forces,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement.