Russian Chef Arrested in Paris Over Alleged Olympic Games Plot

Russian TV chef arrested over alleged threats to Paris Olympics

Kremlin-linked suspect said he was going to give city 'opening ceremony like no other' as he plotted to 'destabilise' event, report claims An alleged Russian spy arrested on Tuesday on suspicion of plotting to destabilise the Olympic Games in Paris is a reality TV chef who worked in a Michelin-starred restaurant in a French Alpine ski resort. The 40-year-old man was detained after a raid of his apartment in central Paris, where a document linked to an elite Russian special forces unit operating under the command of the FSB, an heir to the KGB, was reportedly found. Prosecutors said documents of "diplomatic interest" were also retrieved. According to Le Monde, the suspect, known only as K, who had been living in France for 14 years, gave the game away after getting drunk and being thrown off a plane that was to take him from Istanbul to Paris in May. Obliged to take a flight from Bulgaria, he stopped off en route at a restaurant from where he rang his intelligence handlers in Russia and boasted that he was going to give Paris an "opening ceremony like no other", reported Le Monde. The ceremony will be staged along a six-mile stretch of the Seine on Friday evening and there has long been concern that Russia could seek to meddle in events. Prosecutors in Paris said the search of the Russian national's apartment had been carried out at the request of the French interior ministry. Agents found evidence suggesting the man was preparing a "large-scale project" that could have had "serious" consequences during the three weeks of the Games. A judicial investigation has been opened into allegations of sharing "intelligence with a foreign power with a view to provoking hostilities in France", a crime punishable by 30 years' imprisonment. The alleged plot is not believed to have been terror related. The man, who has not been named, has been placed in pretrial detention. No details have been provided as to the nature of the alleged destabilisation plot. Le Monde reported that he had trained as a chef in Paris and participated in Russian reality and cooking shows. His online cooking lessons received thousands of followers, mainly Russian, it said. Worked in Michelin-starred restaurant He first arrived in France in 2010 and the following year had a placement in the restaurant of a Michelin-starred "palace" - a luxury hotel - in Courchevel, the Alpine ski resort long said to be a playground for Russian oligarchs. The suspect left for Paris in 2012, where, according to emails dating from September that year, and seen by Le Monde, he had told his landlady, named by the paper as Viviane, that he was returning to Moscow to work as an official in the Russian government. But he took part in a civic training day, a mandatory integration step in France, in April 2013. He described himself on his CV as a "private chef" but made no mention of any Russian government links. His arrest came after police officers from the elite research and intervention brigade, called in by the DGSI, the French MI5, conducted a dawn raid of the suspect's home on rue Saint-Denis on the Right Bank of the Seine on Sunday. In June, Microsoft said Russia was seeking to undermine the Olympics with the creation of fake websites replicating authentic French media outlets and the use of artificial intelligence to fuel concern about violence and terrorism. Gérald Darmanin, the French interior minister, said this week that authorities had screened over one million people ahead of the Games. "We are here to ensure that sport is not used for espionage, cyber attacks or to criticise and sometimes even lie about France and the French," he said. In June, a 26-year-old Russian former soldier was arrested after accidentally triggering explosives in a hotel room near Charles de Gaulle airport outside Paris. French media cited intelligence sources as saying he was planning to target a hardware store north of Paris, as part of a "vast sabotage campaign orchestrated in Moscow" targeting several European countries. These sources cited by Le Monde said they suspect Sergey Kiriyenko, the first deputy chief of staff of the Russian president's cabinet, of coordinating a campaign to destabilise "unfriendly" countries seen as hostile to Russian interests, particularly in Ukraine. In recent months, several high-profile stunts have raised suspicion that foreign actors are trying to influence French public opinion or stoke divisions, notably about Russia's invasion of Ukraine or Israel's campaign in Gaza after the Oct 7 attack by Hamas. They include dummy coffins labelled "French soldiers in Ukraine" left by the Eiffel Tower in June and red hands tagged on Paris's main Holocaust memorial in May. In October, soon after Hamas's attack, stars of David were tagged on buildings in the Paris region, with two Moldovans suspected to be working for the Russian FSB later arrested.

Russian chef arrested in Paris over alleged 'large scale' Olympic Games plot

40-year-old arrested in central Paris on SundayEspionage suspected as man charged and detained A Russian chef who has lived in France for 14 years has been arrested on suspicion of plotting with a foreign power to stage "large scale" acts of "destabilisation" during the Olympic Games in Paris. The 40-year-old man was arrested during a raid of his apartment in central Paris on Sunday where a document linked to an elite Russian special forces unit operating under the command of the FSB, an heir to the KGB, was reportedly found. A judicial investigation has been opened into allegations of sharing "intelligence with a foreign power with a view to provoking hostilities in France," a crime punishable by 30 years of imprisonment. The alleged plot is not believed to have been terror related. The man, who has not been named, was indicted on this charge on the same day and placed in pretrial detention. The ambitious opening ceremony of Paris 2024 will be staged on the banks of the Seine on Friday evening and there has long been concern that Russia could seek to meddle in events. Prosecutors in Paris said the search of the Russian national's apartment had been carried out at the request of the French interior ministry. According to briefings given to the French media, agents found evidence suggesting the man was preparing a "large-scale project" that could have had "serious" consequences during the three weeks of games. The French newspaper, Le Monde, reported that the intelligence services had listened into a call two months ago between the individual and a Russian intelligence services handler in which the suspect had stated that "the French are going to have an opening ceremony like there has never been before". No details have been provided as to the nature of the alleged conspiracy to destabilise the games. The paper reported that the detained man had been trained as a chef in Paris and that he had participated in Russian reality and cooking shows. He had described himself on his CV as a "private chef". He first arrived in France in 2010 and spent some time in Courchevel, a ski resort popular with the Russian elite, where he worked in a Michelin starred restaurant, before leaving for Paris in 2012. According to emails dating from September 2012, and seen by Le Monde, the suspect had told his landlady, named by the paper as Viviane, that he was returning to Moscow to work as an official in the Russian government. But he took part in a civic training day, a mandatory integration step in France, in April 2013. The intelligence services had tracked him for months. They picked up on his alleged phone call to his handler in May during at a time when he was returning from a trip to Istanbul to his home in Paris. He missed his flight due to excessive alcohol consumption and instead returned via Bulgaria, at which point the conversation about the Olympics opening ceremony was monitored, according to Le Monde. At 6am on Sunday, police officers from the elite 'research and intervention brigade (BRI), called in by the General Directorate of Internal Security, raided the suspect's home on Rue Saint-Denis on the right bank of the Seine. It is claimed that the police found "documents of diplomatic interest" among his possessions. Last month Microsoft said Russia was seeking to undermine the Olympics with the creation of fake websites replicating authentic French media outlets and the use of artificial intelligence to fuel concern about violence and terrorism. The French interior minister, Gérald Darmanin, said this week that authorities had screened over one million people ahead of the games. "We are here to ensure that sport is not used for espionage, cyberattacks or to criticise and sometimes even lie about France and the French," Darmanin said.

Paris Olympics: Russian chef arrested over FSB-linked provocation plot

The man was arrested on Sunday on suspicion of links to Russian security agency FSB. French police have arrested a 40-year-old Russian chef on suspicion of preparing "large-scale" destabilising acts during the upcoming Olympic Games in Paris. During a raid at his apartment on the right bank of the Seine on Sunday, officers found documents believed to be linked with Russia's special forces, which are a part of the security agency FSB. The man is now being investigated over sharing intelligence with a foreign power in an attempt to "provoke hostilities in France" and has been placed in pre-trial detention. The crime is punishable with up to 30 years in prison. Prosecutors ruled out the alleged was terror-related, but no additional details are known about the alleged plan. The man has not been named. However, he has been living in France since 2010 and was tracked over the past few months by French authorities, according to domestic press. He had been trained as a chef in Paris after participating in Russian reality shows, Le Monde reported. Last month, Microsoft's Threat Analysis Centre said Russia might be preparing "malign disinformation campaigns" during Paris 2024 with the use of AI in an attempt to create false threats of violence at the event.