Cloak-and-dagger confrontation between West, Russia set to grow

Laurent Vinatier is a French academic who knows Russia well.

- Jonathan Eyal

The 47-year-old has spent more than a decade visiting the country, often in the service of the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, an NGO that works in cooperation with the United Nations on discreet informal diplomacy and conflict mediation.

As such, Vinatier is no stranger to Russia's political elite. Earlier in June, he attended the International Economic Forum, one of Russia's most prestigious annual gatherings held in St Petersburg, the country's second-largest city, where Russian President Vladimir Putin often delivers significant policy speeches.

But on June 6, while he was relaxing on a cafe terrace in the heart of Moscow, his visit to Russia took an unexpected turn as plainclothes police officers pounced and took him away.

The authorities subsequently charged him with "failing to register as a foreign agent" while "gathering information on the military of the Russian Federation", an offence that could see Vinatier incarcerated in a Russian prison camp for the next five years if he is convicted.

French President Emmanuel Macron denies claims that the detained man was a spy. "In no way is he someone who was working for France," Mr Macron said in a televised interview on June 6.

The French authorities have no doubts that Vinatier is the latest unwitting victim in a fierce cloak-and-dagger confrontation between Russian and Western intelligence services that is unfolding against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine.

Russia fired the first salvo in the hostilities between spying agencies with the arrest in March 2023 of Evan Gershkovich, a US citizen employed as a reporter for The Wall Street Journal.