Check out our selection of newsletters. Subscribe here.
French President Emmanuel Macron told the television channels TF1 and France2 on June 6 that the arrested man was a French citizen and worked for a Swiss NGO.
The Swiss-based nonprofit Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue (HD), located in Geneva, said it was aware of the arrest of the Frenchman, who worked for the group as an adviser on Russia and Eurasia. It said it was seeking to get more details of the circumstances and to secure his release.
Russia’s State Investigative Committee announced on Thursday that the man had tried to obtain information about the military and military technology in Russia. The Frenchman had visited Moscow several times and met with Russian citizens. A court will decide whether to remand him in custody.
The State Investigative Committee also published a video of the arrest of the man, who was sitting in a Moscow café at the time. Details of the case were not disclosed.
However, relations between Moscow and France have become much more tense since French President Emmanuel Macron attempted to organise European resistance to Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine. Macron has also not ruled out the possibility of sending military trainers to Ukraine.
In arresting foreigners, Russia is exerting pressure on other countries and using these individuals as bargaining chips for possible exchange deals.
Adapted from German by DeepL/kc/sb
This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles.
If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.
External Content
Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.
Almost finished… We need to confirm your email address. To complete the subscription process, please click the link in the email we just sent you.
Popular Stories
More
Life & Aging
Zurich: how the world capital of housing shortages is tackling the problem
Is your place of origin, your Heimatort, important to you?
Every Swiss citizen has a Heimatort, a place of origin, but many have never visited theirs. What’s your relationship with your Heimatort? What does it mean to you?
In Switzerland more people are being referred to electrical therapies or psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy. Are there similar approaches where you live?
Pope was a person full of respect: Swiss president
This content was published on
Swiss president Karin Keller-Sutter, who is attending the funeral of Pope Francis, says the pontiff was always full of respect.
Ex-sect member sentenced in Zurich for sexual abuse
This content was published on
Zurich District Court has sentenced a former member of the globally active sect "Children of God" to a partial prison sentence.
SNB chairman does not rule out slowdown in Swiss growth
This content was published on
Martin Schlegel, chairman of the Swiss National Bank (SNB), does not rule out a weakening of the Swiss economy in light of the tariff dispute.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.