Six members of the Russian secret service are said to have acted in France under “diplomatic cover”. Now France has uncovered this secret operation. The alleged agents were expelled from the country.
France has expelled six Russian nationals from the country who are said to have worked as secret agents “under diplomatic guise”. The activities of the Russians have proven to be “contradictory to our national interests,” the Foreign Ministry said in Paris on Monday. The number two from the Russian Embassy had been ordered to the Foreign Ministry.
After a “very detailed investigation”, the French domestic secret service DGSI “discovered a secret operation by the Russian secret services on our territory,” the statement said. Six Russian agents “who worked under diplomatic cover” in France were declared “undesirable persons”.
Already 35 Russian diplomats expelled
Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin welcomed the work of the French authorities. “Remarkable counterintelligence effort,” he tweeted. “Bravo to the DGSI agents who unearthed a network of Russian secret agents.”
A week ago, the French government announced the expulsion of 35 Russian diplomats whose activities had been classified as contrary to French interests. The six Russians now identified as secret agents have been added to the list, the State Department told AFP.
Since the start of Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine, numerous European countries have collectively expelled hundreds of Russian diplomats. Last week, the federal government declared 40 Russian embassy employees undesirable.
