The Kremlin said on Thursday it was in contact with French authorities over the fate of a French political scientist serving a three-year sentence in Russia and reportedly facing new espionage charges.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Russia had “made an offer to France” in the case of Laurent Vinatier, who was arrested in Moscow last year and convicted of collecting military information and that “the ball is now in the French court.” He declined to give details, citing the sensitivity of the matter.
French President Emmanuel Macron’s office said in a statement that he was closely monitoring Vinatier’s situation. French Foreign Ministry spokesman Pascal Confleur said on Thursday that all government departments have been fully mobilized to provide consular support for Vinatier and promote his early release.
Peskov’s comments came after journalist Jérôme Garreau of France’s TF1 television channel asked President Vladimir Putin at his annual press conference on December 19 whether Vinatier’s family wanted the president to pardon him or release him through a prisoner exchange. Putin said he knew “nothing” about the case but promised to investigate.
Vinatier was arrested in Moscow in June 2024. Russian authorities accused him of failing to register as a “foreign agent” while collecting information about Russia’s “military and military-technical activities” that could have been used to harm national security. The charges carry a maximum penalty of five years in prison.
The arrests come as tensions rise between Moscow and Paris over French President Emmanuel Macron’s comments about the possibility of deploying French troops in Ukraine.
Vinatier’s lawyers asked the court to fine him, but a judge sentenced him to three years in prison in October 2024 – a sentence the French Foreign Ministry called “extremely harsh” and called for the academic’s immediate release.
Detentions for espionage and collecting sensitive data have become increasingly frequent in Russia and its highly politicized legal system since Moscow invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
In addition to criticizing his sentence, France’s foreign ministry urged the repeal of Russia’s law on foreign agents, which subjects those with the foreign agent label to additional government scrutiny and numerous restrictions. Violations may result in criminal prosecution. The legislation “contributes to the systematic violation of fundamental freedoms in Russia, such as freedom of association, opinion and expression,” the ministry said.
Vinatier is an adviser to the Swiss-based NGO Center for Humanitarian Dialogue, which said in June 2024 that it was “doing everything possible to help” him.
In asking the judge for leniency before sentencing, Vinatier noted that he has to care for his two children and elderly parents.
The charges against Vinatier relate to a law that requires anyone collecting information on military matters to register with authorities as a foreign agent.
Human rights activists have criticized the law and other recent legislation as part of the Kremlin’s crackdown on independent media and political activists aimed at silencing criticism of the war in Ukraine.
In August 2025, Russian state news agency TASS reported, citing court records, that Vinatier was also accused of espionage, without providing any details. People convicted of espionage in Russia face 10 to 20 years in prison.
In recent years, Russia has arrested a number of foreigners, mostly U.S. citizens, on various criminal charges and then released them through prisoner exchanges with the United States and other Western countries. The largest confrontation since the Cold War took place in August 2024, when Moscow freed journalists Evan Gershkovic and Arsu Kurmasheva, fellow American Paul Whelan, and Russian dissidents in a multinational agreement and released 20 people.
