bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

sponsorType

authorLocations

authors

paywallTypes

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

factSheets

series

knowledgeQuestion

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

copyrighted

customTimezone

liveContents

Agence France-Presse

A Moscow court ruled on Thursday to keep French researcher Laurent Vinatier, arrested last month and accused of gathering military information, in pre-trial detention.
The 47-year-old works for a Swiss conflict mediation NGO and became the latest Westerner arrested in Russia in early June, officially charged with breaching Moscow’s “foreign agents” law.
Russia’s security services accuse him of collecting military information and his arrest came as tensions between Moscow and Paris escalated over Ukraine.
The Moscow City Court on Thursday rejected Vinatier’s appeal request to be placed in house arrest.
Vinatier appeared in court via video link, wearing a black T-shirt and sitting behind bars, speaking accented Russian and visibly emotional.
“I will try to speak Russian. I am an analyst, a researcher, a writer … I always wanted to adequately present the interest and position of Russia on international relations in my work,” he said.
“I love Russia, my wife is Russian, my life is linked with Russia,” he told the court, adding: “I do not understand why I am here.”

His lawyers gave addresses where he could be moved to be placed under house arrest.
Vinatier said this would allow him to support his wife and children, who he said are of school age.
French President Emmanuel Macron has demanded his release and the French consul general in Moscow was present at the hearing.
A court last month ruled to keep Vinatier in detention until August 5.
Vinatier is an adviser with the Geneva-based Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue and a veteran researcher on Russia and other post-Soviet countries.
Russia has arrested several Westerners during its Ukraine offensive, which ruptured ties with the West.
US journalist Evan Gershkovich has been held by Moscow on espionage charges he denies since March last year.


Russian troops reach centre of Ukraine bastion Vuhledar

China opinion survey gives Russia high marks; US, Japan seen as ‘unfavourable’

China’s envoy in Washington warns US against ‘strategic miscalculation’, pledges investment opportunities

North Korea scoffs at Zelensky’s ‘absurd’ Russia accomplice remarks

Russia

Moscow court rules to keep French researcher in jail under ‘foreign agents’ law

Laurent Vinatier, a French national who works with a Swiss-based conflict mediation non-profit organisation, stands inside the defendant’s cage during his pre-trial detention hearing in Moscow. Photo: AFP

Laurent Vinatier is escorted by a Russian law enforcement officer before his pre-trial detention hearing in Moscow. Russia’s security services accuse him of collecting military information. Photo: AFP

Reviving Russia’s weapons exports to Vietnam in focus as Putin visits Hanoi

Vietnamese President To Lam and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin at the Presidential Palace in Hanoi, Vietnam. Photo: EPA-EFE

Vietnamese President To Lam and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin review the guard of honour in Hanoi. Photo: EPA-EFE

North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin toasting at a welcome banquet in Pyongyang. Photo: AFP

Servicemen of Ukraine’s 93rd Mechanised Brigade fire a heavy mortar at the Russian forces near the city of Bakhmut in Ukraine’s Donetsk region. Photo: AP

Ukraine peace summit is a ‘success’, China key to ending war: ambassador to Singapore

Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong shaking hands with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky. Photo: EPA-EFE

Ukraine’s ambassador to Singapore Kateryna Zelenko. Photo: Ukraine’s embassy in Singapore

A Ukrainian firefighter intervenes to extinguish a fire at a hardware store following a Russian strike in Kharkiv, on May 25. Photo: AFP

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky meets Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong on June 2. Zelensky is in Singapore to attend the Shangri-La Dialogue. Photo: EPA-EFE

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and China’s President Xi Jinping at a welcoming ceremony in Beijing. Ukraine’s ambassador to Singapore Kateryna Zelenko calls on China to play a key role in ending the war in Ukraine. Photo: AFP

Biden and France’s Macron reach agreement on using Russian assets to help Ukraine

US President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron. Photo: AFP

US President Joe Biden at Aisne-Marne American Cemetery in Belleau, France on Sunday. Photo: AP

Ukraine allowed to strike inside Russia, France’s Emmanuel Macron and Germany’s Olaf Scholz say

US soldiers conduct Army Tactical Missile System live fire testing at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, in December 2021. Ukraine has used US-provided long-range missiles to strike targets in Russian-occupied areas. Photo: US Army via AP

French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Photo: EPA-EFE

News

World

Russia & Central Asia

Laurent Vinatier, 47, is the latest Westerner arrested in Russia in early June, charged with breaching Moscow’s ‘foreign agents’ law


Russia’s security services accuse Laurent Vinatier, 47, of collecting military information and his arrest came as tensions between Moscow and Paris escalated over Ukraine.
