Overview
- French researcher Laurent Vinatier arrived in Paris and was received at the Foreign Ministry, with President Emmanuel Macron expressing relief and thanking diplomats.
- The FSB said Vinatier was exchanged for Russian basketball player Daniil Kasatkin, who had been detained in France on a U.S. request and has now returned to Russia.
- Russian state media released video showing Vinatier being told he was pardoned by Vladimir Putin and boarding a small plane as Kasatkin disembarked.
- Vinatier was arrested in Moscow in June 2024, sentenced to three years for failing to register under the 'foreign agent' law, and later targeted in a separate espionage case.
- Kasatkin, 26, was arrested in June 2025 over U.S. allegations he was linked to a ransomware network that hit hundreds of targets, though a French extradition decree was never signed.