The detained Russian, who intended to arrange an incident at the opening of the Olympic Games in Paris, is 40-year-old Kirill Gryaznov. As reported by “Le Monde”, the man, who is a lawyer by education and obtained a chef's diploma in France, has long had contacts with the services.
The French daily cites documents that were also accessed by the German “Der Spiegel” and the independent Russian website Insider. The media indicate that Kirill's older brother is lawyer Dmitry Gryaznov, who sits on the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union of Belarus and Russia. This integration structure brings together many agents of the Federal Security Service (FSB).
Kirill Gryaznov graduated from the law faculty of the University of Perm, and defended his thesis in Moscow in 2007. His correspondence, described by Le Monde and Insider, shows that Gryaznov's Russian friends were aware of his connections. For example, in 2009 and 2010 – when he had recently graduated from the university – they asked him to check who certain security officers were and whether they could be trusted.
In 2010, Grjaznow graduated from France courses at the Le Cordon Bleu cooking school in Paris and lived in France. He then worked as a chef in a renowned restaurant in a Swiss resort. While living in Paris, he regularly traveled to Russia.
In his homeland, Grjaznov appeared in TV shows where he was presented as a businessman and a chef. In reality, he had problems and debts, and alcohol hindered his cooking career.
As Le Monde emphasizes, the Russian did not tell his French friends about his past, including his work at a financial company in Luxembourg. The insider notes, however, that in 2012, Grjaznov wrote in an email to the landlady of the apartment where he lived in France that he was now in Moscow and “works for the state” of Russia.
Arrested in his Paris apartment
In 2023, he left for Paris again. A few days ago – on July 21 – he was detained in his apartment. “Le Monde” reported that, according to information obtained from the intelligence services, an ID card of a Russian special unit subordinate to the FSB was found there.
On Tuesday, the court ruled that the man would be remanded in custody on charges of “working as an intelligence officer for a foreign power with the aim of stirring up unrest in France.” He faces up to 30 years in prison.
Le Monde reported that intelligence services had overheard a telephone conversation from two months ago between the man and a representative of the Russian intelligence service, in which the suspect stated that “the French will have an opening ceremony the likes of which have never happened before.”
Paris is preparing for the Olympic GamesEPA/ANDRE PAIN
Main image source: EPA/TERESA SUAREZ