{"id":594632,"date":"2025-11-26T08:41:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-26T08:41:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/594632\/"},"modified":"2025-11-26T08:41:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-26T08:41:12","slug":"france-arrests-3-for-allegedly-spying-for-russia-spreading-pro-kremlin-war-propaganda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/594632\/","title":{"rendered":"France arrests 3 for allegedly spying for Russia, spreading pro-Kremlin war propaganda"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>ISTANBUL<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>French authorities have arrested three people suspected of spying for Russia and promoting pro-Kremlin war propaganda in Paris, prosecutors have said.<\/p>\n<p>The arrests are part of an investigation into SOS Donbass, a French-Russian organization that purports to be a humanitarian group assisting civilians in eastern Ukraine but is suspected by intelligence services of acting as a relay for Russian influence operations, France 24 reported on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>One of the detainees, a 40-year-old Russian national, was identified through surveillance footage in September after allegedly posting pro-Russian propaganda posters on the Arc de Triomphe, Paris\u2019s most iconic monument.<\/p>\n<p>Prosecutors claim that he reported his actions to the association&#8217;s leader over the phone.<\/p>\n<p>The organization\u2019s head, a 40-year-old woman born in Russia, had been under close watch by France\u2019s domestic intelligence agency, the DGSI, since early 2025.<\/p>\n<p>Investigators believe she attempted to obtain economic information from French business executives.<\/p>\n<p>The DGSI flagged &#8220;actions likely to harm the fundamental interests of the nation,&#8221; prompting the appointment of an investigating magistrate in March to investigate suspected offenses, including &#8220;collusion with a foreign power,&#8221; which carries a potential 10-year prison sentence.<\/p>\n<p>A third suspect, a 63-year-old man from Seine-Saint-Denis, was also taken into custody.<\/p>\n<p>A fourth individual, aged 58, avoided pre-trial detention but was placed under strict judicial supervision and must report to the police weekly.<\/p>\n<p>French officials have repeatedly warned that Russian intelligence services are expanding covert operations on European soil, ranging from cyberattacks and online propaganda to in-person recruitment and targeted influence efforts.<\/p>\n<p>The investigation into SOS Donbass appears to align with this broader pattern, as authorities examine whether humanitarian cover is being used to legitimize pro-Kremlin messaging or collect sensitive information.<\/p>\n<p>The suspects remain under investigation as prosecutors and intelligence services continue to analyze potential links to Russian state structures.<\/p>\n<p>                            &#13;<br \/>\n                                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aa.com.tr\/en\/p\/subscription\/1001\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"font-size:12px; color:#444; text-decoration:none;\" rel=\"noopener\">&#13;<br \/>\n                                    Anadolu Agency website contains only a portion of the news stories offered to subscribers in the AA News Broadcasting System (HAS), and in summarized form. <b style=\"color:#1897F7\">Please contact us for subscription options.<\/b>&#13;<br \/>\n                                <\/a>&#13;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ISTANBUL French authorities have arrested three people suspected of spying for Russia and promoting pro-Kremlin war propaganda in&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":594633,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7655],"tags":[5340,36,186958,332,657],"class_list":{"0":"post-594632","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-russia","8":"tag-anadolu-ajansi","9":"tag-france","10":"tag-pro-kremlin-war-propaganda","11":"tag-russia","12":"tag-ukraine"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115615110609062240","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594632","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=594632"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594632\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/594633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=594632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=594632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=594632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}