Overview
- France’s foreign ministry said Laurent Vinatier has arrived in Paris following his release in a state-mediated exchange.
- Russia’s FSB said basketball player Daniil Kasatkin was freed in France and returned to Russia, and it published footage showing Vinatier leaving custody and Kasatkin disembarking from a plane.
- President Vladimir Putin issued a pardon for Vinatier, a step that followed Kremlin signals in December that a proposal was on the table.
- Vinatier, who worked with the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, was arrested in June 2024 and sentenced in October for allegedly gathering military information without registering as a “foreign agent.”
- Kasatkin was detained in Paris in June 2025 on a U.S. extradition request tied to alleged cyberextortion against hundreds of organizations between 2020 and 2022, allegations he has denied.