Three charged over suspected links to Russian espionage operations in France

A French national, a French-Russian dual citizen and a Russian have been detained in Paris and charged with criminal offences over their connection to French humanitarian organisation SOS Donbass, French public broadcaster France 24 reported on Wednesday.

A French national named solely as Vincent P. — likely president of SOS Donbass Vincent Perfetti — and Anna Novikova, a dual French and Russian citizen, have been charged with conspiring with a foreign state, carrying out activities to collect information in the interests of a foreign state, and conspiracy with the aim of committing a crime. 

A third individual, named only as Vyacheslav P., has been charged with conducting propaganda activities in France after surveillance footage captured in Paris in September allegedly showed him putting up pro-Russian posters on the Arc de Triomphe.

Prosecutors said that the arrests had been made during an investigation into SOS Donbass, a charity that was set up by Novikova in 2014 to provide relief to people living in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region.

The French Interior Ministry considers SOS Donbass to be a tool of Russian influence in France, and suspects that both Novikova and Vyacheslav P. were hired by the Russian intelligence services, according to French daily newspaper Le Parisien. All three detainees have denied the allegations against them. 

SOS Donbass has made a name for itself in France by putting up posters declaring “Russia is not my enemy”, calling for peace and reason to prevail in Ukraine, and campaigning for French arms deliveries to Kyiv to be halted, while making no reference to the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine.

State-affiliated Russian media RBC noted that Novikova has Moscow ties, having worked as a freelance correspondent for Russian state-owned news agency RIA Novosti in the past. If found guilty of espionage, Novikova could face up to 10 years behind bars.