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JOEL SAGET / AFP
Laurent Vinatier (photographed January 23, 2026 in the Paris region) recounts his “fear of dying” during his detention in Russia in “Le monde.”
He wanted to maintain dialog “between the West and Russia,” but he “ended up being the messenger who is beheaded.” A researcher specializing in the post-Soviet space, Laurent Vinatier returned to his 19 months of detention in Russia in an interview published this Friday, January 23rd in Le Monde. Arrested in June 2024 on the terrace of a moscow café, the Frenchman was only released on January 8th.
After being sentenced for not registering as a “foreign agent,” the researcher risked further prosecution for espionage. This political-judicial cabal exposed him to…
