Moscow has reached out to Paris with a proposal regarding a French citizen jailed in Russia, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday.
Laurent Vinatier was sentenced to three years in prison in 2024 for failing to register as a foreign agent while collecting information on the Russian military.
During last week's Q&A session, French broadcaster TF1 journalist Jerome Garro asked Russian President Vladimir Putin if he could pardon Vinatier. Putin replied that he was unaware of the case but promised to look into it and “take all the necessary efforts to do that” if Russian law allows it.
On Thursday, Peskov said he called Garro and filled him in on a proposal that Moscow had made to Paris with regard to the case. “The ball is now in France’s court,” the spokesman said without providing any details, calling the issue “sensitive.”
Vinatier worked for the Swiss NGO ‘Center for Humanitarian Dialogue’ as an adviser on Russia and Eurasia. He was arrested in June 2024 after the Russian Ministry of Justice designated him a foreign agent. Prosecutors accused him of “purposefully” collecting information on Russia’s activities in the “military and military-technical” fields for several years, with no intent to register his activities with the relevant authorities. Vinatier pleaded guilty to two felony charges.
Russian media reported in August that an espionage case has been opened against Vinatier. According to his lawyer, he could face a new trial at the end of February 2026. A conviction for espionage carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.