France is calling on Russia to immediately release French researcher Laurent Vinatier, who last week missed out on a major prisoner exchange in which 16 prisoners were released from Russia to the West.
Vinatier was arrested in June, and pleaded guilty of failing to register as a “foreign agent”.
He was placed in pre-trial custody, and a court this week extended his detention until 5 September.
"Our thoughts are with those people who remain held in custody arbitrarily in Russia, most notably such as our compatriot Laurent Vinatier," the French foreign ministry said in a statement on 3 August.
"France calls for their immediate release."
Moscow authorities accuse Vinatier of gathering information on the Russian military, an offence punishable by up to five years in jail.
Russia implemented the foreign agent law after massive protests against Vladimir Putin's return to the presidency in the 2012 election.
Vinatier is a specialist of the former USSR, who worked with the Swiss NGO Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue (HD).
In a statement issued in June, HD said it "is doing everything possible to assist, engaging with [Vinatier's] family, helping to secure legal representation for him in Russia and reaching out to relevant governmental authorities”.
HD said it would continue to seek information about the circumstances leading up to his arrest and the charges made against him.
According to its website, HD is active in ten countries and regions, including Ukraine, where, it is “positioning teams to help set up civilian evacuation corridors and develop discreet channels for communication after the war started in early 2022".
During talks between Russia and Ukraine to restart the flow of vital food shipments, HD said it provided advice and support to the Black Sea Grain Initiative led by the United Nations and Turkey, part of efforts to “prevent, mitigate and resolve armed conflict” in the region.
Prisoner swap
Vinatier was not among the prisoners involved in the biggest post Cold War prisoner exchange earlier this month.
Russia released three Americans, including the Wall Street Journal's Evan Gershkovich, together with five Germans and Russian opposition figures, including dissident Vladimir Kara-Murza and head of the NGO Memorial Oleg Orlov.
In return, eight Russian prisoners were released from prisons in the US, Norway, Germany, Poland and Slovenia, including individuals accused of intelligence activities. Vinatier was not part of the deal.
The detention of Vinatier has increased tensions between Russia and Paris, already strained since the beginning of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and France's subsequent military and logistical support of Kyiv.
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