Three men were questioned by French police on Monday after breaking into a villa owned by the former son-in-law of Russian President Vladimir Putin in protest at the invasion of Ukraine, prosecutors said.
One of the men who broke into the luxury seaside residence in the southwestern resort of Biarritz is a French activist called Pierre Haffner. Another described himself as an opponent of the Putin government.
Police warning
The three men, who were questioned in an investigation into a "home invasion", were handed a police warning and released in the evening.
Earlier Monday the prosecutor's office said that two men had been taken into custody.
They were under investigation for intruding into a private home, the Alta Mira villa belonging to Kirill Shamalov, during "the past 48 hours", a source close to the case told French news agency AFP.
Businessman Shamalov is described by international media as Putin's former son-in-law. He was married to the Russian leader's younger daughter, Katerina Tikhonova.
Anti-Putin activists
A video Haffner posted on Youtube showed one of the anti-Putin activists strolling through the vast late 19th-century home, built on a cliffside with sweeping views of the Atlantic.
"This house was bought with money stolen by Putin, by his mafia, from the Russian people and the peoples oppressed by Putin's Russia," the man said.
Another video on the streaming platform showed a second man waving a Ukrainian flag from one of the villa's balconies.
A subtitle reads: "The house of the people is ready to host refugees from the Putin regime."
A property in the neighbouring town of Anglet belonging to a company owned by Putin's ex-wife Lyudmila and her husband, businessman Artur Ocheretny, was graffitied by unknown individuals in late February after Russian launched its invasion of Ukraine.
Insults aimed at Putin were repeatedly sprayed in blue paint on the walls and gates of the seafront Art Deco-style "Villa Suzanna".
