MOSCOW, Jan 8 (Reuters) – Russia is freeing Laurent Vinatier, a French researcher serving a three-year prison sentence for violating Moscow’s foreign agent laws, in exchange for France’s release of a jailed Russian, state media quoted the FSB security service as saying on Thursday.
RIA news agency said Vinatier, 49, had been pardoned by President Vladimir Putin.
The pardon was announced after France freed Russian basketball player Daniil Kasatkin from custody. His lawyer Frederic Belot said Kasatkin, detained last June at the request of the U.S. for alleged involvement in hacking attacks, flew back to Moscow on Thursday.
Vinatier was convicted in October 2024 of breaking laws requiring individuals deemed to be “foreign agents” to register with the Russian authorities. While behind bars, he was later placed under additional investigation for espionage, and was facing a likely further trial in the coming months.
The Kremlin said in late December it had made a proposal to France regarding Vinatier, after Putin said he would look into his case.
(Reporting by Marina Bobrova and Lucy Papachristou; Editing by Mark Trevelyan, Alexandra Hudson)
