Is France a nest for Moscow agents? A year ago, just after Russia invaded Ukraine, France expelled 41 Russian diplomats suspected of carrying out intelligence activities on French territory. Rare thing, this operation had been made public by the Quai d’Orsay. In one year, the number of Russian diplomats present in France has been divided by four.
Expulsion from the territory, refusal of visa renewal…
They are only 80 today to benefit from diplomatic immunity. Just before the invasion in Ukraine, France granted this protection to around 300 Russian nationals. Heads of mission stationed in Paris, their families and related staff, all protected by this precious sesame. No search, no search, no right to inspect their bank account or their correspondence.
Several of them, suspected by French intelligence of being spies under diplomatic cover, were secretly expelled from the territory, sometimes unmasked in France by the counter-intelligence services. Others have simply been denied visa renewals. “We have tightened the screw, but we could go even further”, blows an intelligence source.
Agents transferred to African countries
According to information from Europe 1, the executive is considering reducing the Russian representation in France a little further, with a target of around sixty diplomatic passports authorized on the territory. Some expelled consular agents were then transferred to African countries, particularly in the Central African Republic, the Russian laboratory of the French destabilization operation in the region.
Proof, if another was needed for French intelligence, that behind these Russian emissaries are hiding many Kremlin spies.