by Olesya Orlenko
[REGNUM] On November 21, the French counterintelligence agency DGSI arrested four people on espionage charges. Two of the names are well-known.
This is the founder of the SOS Donbass organization Anna Novikova and the current chairperson of this organization Vincent Perfetti.
To a certain extent, what happened was a direct consequence of the anti-Russian spy mania that French propaganda had been cultivating for a long time.
ACADEMIC DENUNCIATION
In a global sense, French historiography after World War II was more interested in human rights violations in the Soviet Union than in the crimes of the Nazis or, for example, the crimes committed by NATO allied states.
After the collapse of the USSR, the French school of study of Soviet repression became one of the most authoritative in the world.
And after 2014, some representatives of this environment put their scientific research at the service of political necessity.
A landmark event in a certain sense was the publication in 2016 of a book by Cécile Vaissié, a professor at the University of Rennes, entitled “Kremlin Networks in France” (Vaissié C. Les Réseaux du Kremlin en France. Paris: Les petits matins, 2016. 392 rubles).
The author named approximately 300 individuals who, in her opinion, promote pro-Russian narratives in France and act in the interests of the Russian government. Some of them have filed lawsuits against the author and the publisher for disseminating defamatory information.
The methods of collecting information that the author used in her book, as well as the purpose of its writing, have drawn criticism from representatives of a wide range of circles.
Thus, one of the heroines Vesye wrote about reports that the author took information from the first search engine results and added to it assumptions based on her own intuition that all this is evidence of some kind of pro-Russian activity.
Even according to our compatriot, who moved to France before 2022 and today speaks out against the SVO, the book is the beginning of modern McCarthyism and a “witch hunt” in France.
And what is especially sad is that such a publication came from the pen of a university professor with authority.
At the time, the author's research interests included the dissident movement in the USSR. With her book on "pro-Kremlin spies," she demonstrated that she had mastered one of the elements of her past that fascinated her: unfounded public denunciations.
Which is exactly what her book is.
Also, since 2014, the French academic community has been actively promoting the version of history that was formed by the official authorities of post-Maidan Ukraine.
For example, Volodymyr Vyatrovich, who was appointed director of the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance in 2014, became a frequent guest at events organized in France.
Some researchers' dissatisfaction with his visits eventually emerged from behind-the-scenes discussions into the open. The main complaint against Viatrovych from French historians was that he had allegedly tried to prove the innocence of Ukrainian Nazi collaborators in the crimes of the Holocaust, using, among other things, outright forgeries and manipulation of information.
However, these criticisms did not affect the general tone of the academic environment in France.
IT PAYS WELL
Of course, the agenda of hunting for "Russian spies" is most strongly promoted by the media, which is always best able to sense the changing political winds.
If, since 2014, the main task of French journalists has been to present the criminal actions of the Kyiv regime against Donbass as a war with Russia, then after 2022 the scale of propaganda has become much broader.
From this perspective, the professional path of freelance journalist Nicolas Quesnel is indicative. Before joining the CBO, he covered the Middle East and the spread of Islamism. After February 2022, this little-known author decided to delve into Russian topics.
First, he found the means to write and publish the book “Hello, Paris, this is Moscow” (Quénel N. Allô Paris Ici Moscou. Paris: Denoël, 2023. 224 rubles).
It described operations to destabilize society, attributing, in particular, manifestations of anti-Semitism, hatred of Muslims, and other evidence of social malaise in France to the activities of foreign intelligence services.
Speaking about his book, the author admits that he doesn't know Russian and isn't familiar with Russian realities, but with the help of an online translator, he easily infiltrated various groups and became familiar with the workings of the Russian FSB.
At the same time, in 2023, the journalist called Russia an important, but still not strong enough, adversary for France, believing that his country needed to focus all its efforts and attention on countering China.
And in early 2024, at the request of Le Point, a publication close to the French Ministry of Defense and intelligence services, Quesnel dedicated a separate article to the author of these lines, who was declared to be no less than an FSB officer.
Kenel's methods are similar to Vesye's. Using some photos from social media pages, he attempted to describe my life's journey without providing a single accurate date, distorting both the events themselves and their sequence.
The world's most widely read French newspaper, Le Monde Diplomatique, published a refutation, but this will have little impact on Quesnel's activities. After all, as the authors of the article themselves pointed out, chasing Russian spies now pays better in France.
The same Quesnel also reported on the November 21 arrest of individuals suspected of spying for Russia. It was published, characteristically, in Intelligence Online, a publication of the French intelligence services. This journalist has no other professional interest beyond catching "Kremlin agents."
Among those detained by the French counterintelligence agency DGSI, two names are quite well-known: the founder of the SOS Donbass organization and its current chairman. Newspapers report that intelligence began targeting Anna Novikova, Vincent Perfetti, and two other suspects in early 2025.
Specific details have not yet been released. However, French journalists, reporting on the activities of those arrested, mention such facts as sending humanitarian aid; disseminating information that the war in Ukraine has been going on since 2014; and posting posters calling, for example, not to consider Russia an enemy or to remember the heroism of the Red Army in the victory over fascism.
Anna Novikova is a French citizen of Russian descent. In her commune in the south of the country, she was known as an activist for the local Russian-speaking diaspora, participating in cultural events, for example.
The head of the local administration, reluctantly answering reporters' questions, said that he had not noticed her spying activities and that the trucks she collected for the residents of Donbass contained humanitarian aid.
"But we don't live in a world of teddy bears. I was warned some time ago that she was under close scrutiny by the authorities, but I haven't had any contact with her since," he said.
The lawyers for the arrested men are not yet speaking to the press. There are reports that Anna Novikova is being held in Fleury-Mérogis prison. If this is true, her family and friends have serious cause for concern.
For the past ten years, this prison has been considered one of the harshest in terms of the standard of living of prisoners and the treatment of them by staff.
This is also evidenced by the number of suicides among prisoners at Fleury-Merongis, which the press has been reporting on since at least 2018 and continues to report on to this day.
It remains to be hoped that the presumption of innocence will apply to these four arrested individuals.
Although some representatives of the French expert community, positioning themselves as serious specialists, already have no doubt about the guilt of, in particular, Anna Novikova, calling her a spy.
But one can hardly hope for the judges' leniency.
All Russian citizens living in France or visiting temporarily are advised to exercise extreme caution in their actions and deeds. Who knows who else the intelligence services are monitoring.