Laurent Vinatier, had been sentenced to three years for allegedly violating Russia\u2019s so-called \u2018foreign agent\u2019 laws.<\/p>\n
A French researcher serving a three-year sentence in Russia has been freed in a prisoner exchange with Moscow, French and Russian officials have said.<\/p>\n
President Emmanuel Macron announced the release of Laurent Vinatier, who had been jailed for allegedly violating Russia\u2019s so-called \u201cforeign agent\u201d laws, saying that the researcher was \u201cfree and back in France.\u201d<\/p>\n
Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list<\/p>\n
\u201cI share the relief of his family and loved ones. My gratitude to our diplomatic agents for their mobilisation\u201d, Macron said on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Russia\u2019s FSB security service announced that Vinatier, 49, had been swapped for basketball player Daniil Kasatkin, 26.<\/p>\n
Kasatkin was arrested last June at a Paris airport and was wanted by the United States over an alleged involvement in ransomware attacks \u2013 an allegation that Kasatkin has previously denied.<\/p>\n
![\"In](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ap_695fda5f9b099-1767889503.jpg\")
Daniil Kasatkin, a Russian basketball player who was jailed in France and whose extradition was demanded by the United States, is seen after being released in a prisoner swap with France that saw the release of Laurent Vinatier [Russian Federal Security Service\/Russia-1 TV channel via AP]<\/p>\n
The FSB \u2060said Vinatier had been pardoned by President Vladimir Putin, who promised last month to look into the case after a French journalist raised it during the Kremlin leader\u2019s annual news conference.<\/p>\n
Vinatier was arrested by the FSB at a Moscow restaurant in June 2024 and convicted four months later of breaking laws requiring individuals deemed to be \u201cforeign agents\u201d to register with the Russian authorities.<\/p>\n
While behind bars, he was placed under additional investigation for espionage, and he had been facing a likely further trial in the coming months.<\/p>\n
The FSB said that the researcher, acting on instructions from Swiss intelligence, had collected sensitive political and military information, including combat and training plans, that could target Moscow\u2019s security.<\/p>\n
However, it said that the case against Vinatier had been dismissed due to his \u201cactive repentance.\u201d<\/p>\n
Before he was arrested, Vinatier worked for the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, a Swiss-based conflict mediation organisation, where fellow scholars respected him.<\/p>\n
At his trial, the researcher said he loved Russia, apologised for breaking the law, and even recited a verse by Russian poet Alexander Pushkin.<\/p>\n
Frederic Belot, a lawyer representing Vinatier, said the decision was a \u201chuge relief\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are extremely happy that he has been released for Orthodox Christmas,\u201d Belot added, who also represents Kasatkin.<\/p>\n
Franco-Russian relations<\/p>\n
Relations between Paris and Moscow have been frosty in the wake of Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February, 2022.<\/p>\n
While Macron has been outspoken in his support for Kyiv\u2019s military efforts alongside other European allies, including the UK, he has also expressed a willingness to engage with Russia to end the war.<\/p>\n
On Thursday, Moscow condemned a security plan agreed by Ukraine and its European allies in the French capital, Paris,\u00a0 for the deployment of a peacekeeping force as an \u201caxis of war\u201d.<\/p>\n
Earlier this week, European leaders and United States envoys announced that the security guarantees for Kyiv would include a US-led monitoring mechanism and a European multinational force, in the event of a ceasefire.<\/p>\n
However, Moscow rejected the plan.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll such units and facilities will be considered legitimate military targets for the Russian Armed Forces,\u201d Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Laurent Vinatier, had been sentenced to three years for allegedly violating Russia\u2019s so-called \u2018foreign agent\u2019 laws. A French…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":683523,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7655],"tags":[299,36,12,18939,332],"class_list":{"0":"post-683522","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-russia","8":"tag-europe","9":"tag-france","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-prison","12":"tag-russia"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115862746331310124","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/683522","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=683522"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/683522\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/683523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=683522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=683522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=683522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}