France arrests two Russians and two others on spying charges

French police have arrested four people, including a Russian woman who runs a France-based non-profit group, on suspicion of spying for a foreign power. 

Prosecutors in Paris said on Wednesday that three of the people charged had been placed in provisional detention. A fourth man, also accused of “colluding with a foreign power”, was banned from leaving France and has to check in with police.

Two of the people, prosecutors added, were of Russian nationality. This includes a Franco-Russian woman, named by authorities as “Anna N”, who founded the SOS Donbass association, which describes itself as helping people in the eastern Ukrainian region. 

The non-profit, which calls on its website for an end to deliveries of weapons to the Ukrainian army and for the formation of a “bridge of peace” between Europe and Russia, lists Anna Novikova as its founder. It could not immediately be reached for comment. 

She had been under surveillance since January, prosecutors said, as French national security officers looked into actions by her that “could harm the fundamental interests of the nation”.

“She was in particular suspected of approaching executives at various French companies to obtain information about French economic interests,” prosecutors said.

The arrests occurred on November 20 and 21, after investigators also found a link to another incident — the plastering of pro-Russian posters on the Arc de Triomphe. The posters, carrying the tagline “Say thank you to the triumphant Soviet soldier”, were found in early September on the Parisian monument.

Across Europe, governments have been on high alert for signs of Russian interference since Moscow’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Incidents have ranged from suspicious drone flyovers near airports to alleged sabotage, such as a rail line explosion in Poland this month, which the government blamed on Russia.

Germany, as the continent’s largest supplier of military aid to Ukraine, has been a particular target for clandestine Russian operations. Earlier this year two men in Bavaria were arrested on suspicion of being Russian agents and planning to bomb industrial and military sites. 

French President Emmanuel Macron this week described a state of “hybrid confrontation” with Russia, ranging from diplomatic provocations to cyber attacks and a disinformation war. 

France has also been the target of various publicity stunts, such as the empty coffins left near the Eiffel Tower in 2024 — apparently to deter French military support for Ukraine — which prompted a probe into whether Russia or groups linked to Russia had orchestrated it.

Two Moldovans believed to have links to Russian propaganda efforts were arrested over more than 200 Stars of David found spray-painted on Paris buildings in 2023, and other graffiti aimed at sowing division and destabilising France have since been linked back to those networks. 

Video surveillance footage led police to a Russian man in the case of the Arc de Triomphe posters, and he was among those arrested in recent days, prosecutors said. He was then found to have been in phone contact with “Anna N”, they added. 

She is accused of crimes that could add up to 45 years in jail and €600,000 in fines, including participating in organised crime and spying and intelligence for a foreign power.