The French government foiled several plots to disrupt the 2024 Olympics by arresting a Russian at one of them, officials said Wednesday, just days before the opening rite of the Summer Games in Paris.
France has been on high alert in recent weeks as preparations to host the Olympics come to an end. The Games will officially begin on Friday with a sumptuous and highly secure opening rite on the Seine.
The Paris prosecutor’s office announced on Wednesday that it arrested a 40-year-old Russian man in his Paris apartment on Tuesday on suspicion of planning to “destabilise the Olympic Games”.
He was charged with “conducting intelligence operations on behalf of a foreign power” with the aim of “provoking hostilities in France,” crimes punishable by up to 30 years in prison, according to a statement from the Paris prosecutor’s office.
During a search of the suspect’s home, police discovered items that “raised fears of his intention to organize events that could lead to the destabilization of the Olympic Games,” prosecutors said.
Russia’s embassy in Paris said it had obtained some confirmation from the French government about the arrest and asked the government for an explanation after learning of the matter. He made further comments.
The organizers of the games face major security challenges, cyberattacks, amid rising foreign tensions over Russia’s war in Ukraine and Israel’s war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
There are also elaborate disinformation campaigns orchestrated from Russia, the Olympics and the recent elections in France, according to French officials and cybersecurity experts in Europe and the United States.
“We have a list of threats that we are targeting, adding the cyber threat,” Sonia Fibleuil, a national police spokeswoman, told The Associated Press.
Such threats “can consist of fake news and false data or online campaigns aimed at amplifying robot data and disseminating it en masse,” Fibleuil explained.
This week, French intelligence discovered, for example, that a video posted on social media purporting to show a risk from Hamas opposed to the Olympics was fake, generated through artificial intelligence and appeared to have ties to Russia, according to a French security official. The official was not legal to be known in discussions about intelligence matters.
A Hamas official denied on Telegram that the militant organization was behind the video.
Earlier on Wednesday, in a separate plot, Interior Minister Gerald Darguyin said in an interview with French television channel BFMTV that a young man had been arrested in Gironde, a region in southwestern France, on suspicion of ” plan violent action against the Olympic Games”. “.
Police arrested the 18-year-old on Tuesday on charges of misdemeanor to attack “the organization of the Games,” Darmanin said.
He did not elaborate on the suspects’ potential targets or whether they were in Paris or other French cities for Olympic events until Aug. 11.
“We are still working on this case. . . we avoid giving details. . . but there is a connection,” Darmanin said. “It has been established that this user sought to attack the Olympic Games. ”
Paris deployed 35,000 police officers each day for the Olympics, with a maximum of 45,000 for the opening ceremony. In addition, 10,000 infantry soldiers participate in security operations in the Paris region.
A 10,000-strong military force patrols the streets and locations of the Paris region and carries out security missions.
France also receives help from more than 40 countries, which together have sent at least 1,900 police reinforcements, adding a contingent from the Los Angeles Police Department. it’s the 2028 Summer Games.
Surk and Charlton write for the Associated Press and from Nice, France and Paris, respectively.
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