Kremlin says Paris did not inform it of Russian suspect’s arrest

MOSCOW: The Kremlin’s spokesman on Friday said France did not inform Moscow of its arrest of a Russian man over a suspected “destabilization” plot targeting the Paris Olympics.
The man was detained Sunday in Paris and later placed in custody but Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists that France had not directly informed Russian officials.
“We have no information. We saw media reports... Our embassy in Paris should have been informed of the detention. We hope the information will be provided to them,” he added.
Peskov described media reports about the case as “quite curious.”
French prosecutors said the man, born in 1984, was suspected of “passing intelligence to a foreign power in order to arouse hostilities in France,” punishable by up to 30 years in prison.
Le Monde newspaper said police had found documents “of diplomatic interest” at his apartment and he was suspected of working for the Russian FSB internal intelligence service after appearances in reality TV shows and a stint as a chef in a French ski resort.
Le Monde and other media named the suspect as Kirill Gryaznov, a chef originally from the city of Perm in the Urals.
He studied Cordon Bleu cooking in France and worked at Courchevel, a ski resort popular with Russians, French media and Russian-language investigative website The Insider reported.
He regularly visited Russia where he took part in cooking shows and a “Bachelor“-style TV reality show called “Choose Me” in 2019, but had problems with alcohol and finances, The Insider reported.
An Instagram account in his name includes wedding photos from last year and recipes.
The Insider reported that Gryaznov described himself as working for the Russian government and had security service contacts.
“We think very strongly that he was going to organize operations of destabilization, interference, spying,” French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin told BFM television on Wednesday.
“He’s now in the justice system which will be able to confirm the suspicions of the police.”
The Insider, German magazine Der Spiegel and Le Monde reported that Gryaznov was arrested after being barred from a flight from Istanbul to Paris for being drunk.
He then booked onto another flight from Bulgaria and stopped at a restaurant there, where he reportedly told people that he was on a secret mission related to the Olympics and claimed the French would have an opening ceremony “like they have never had.”
Almost all of Moscow’s athletes have been excluded from the Paris Olympics over the Kremlin’s offensive in Ukraine, with only 15 set to compete as neutrals.
Paris prosecutors Friday opened a probe into a suspected bid to undermine “fundamental national interests” after rail sabotage paralyzed France’s high-speed train network hours ahead of the Olympics opening ceremony.