French Researcher and Russian Basketball Player Released in a Prisoner Swap

Laurent Vinatier, a French citizen and researcher detained, was freed in exchange for the release of Daniil Kasatkin, a Russian basketball player.The French researcher Laurent Vinatier in court in Moscow in 2024.Credit...Alexander Nemenov/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesJan. 8, 2026Updated 12:19 p.m. ETA French researcher detained in Russia since 2024 was freed on Thursday in exchange for the release of a Russian professional basketball player held in France, French and Russian officials said.The basketball player, Daniil Kasatkin, had been detained in France on suspicion of negotiating payments for a ransomware ring that hacked around 900 companies and two U.S. government entities.American officials had sought his extradition to the United States, French law enforcement officials have said. A spokeswoman for the U.S. Justice Department declined to answer a question about whether France had told the United States that it was planning to release Mr. Kasatkin.The researcher, Laurent Vinatier, had worked as a consultant at a Switzerland-based nonprofit called Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, had been arrested on spying charges in June 2024. He was accused of “collecting information of military and technical nature,” according to a statement from the Federal Security Service intelligence service, or F.S.B. A Russian court had sentenced him to three years in prison in 2024 for collecting information about the Russian military as an unregistered foreign agent.The swap was an example of rare bilateral relations between France and Russia since the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.A Paris-based lawyer, Frédéric Bélot, represented Mr. Vinatier’s parents as well as Mr. Kasatkin, and told Agence France-Presse that he was relieved about the prisoners’ releases.“I am particularly happy that Laurent Vinatier was exchanged for another of my clients, Daniil Kasatkin, whom I believe to be innocent,” Mr. Bélot said. “Laurent Vinatier was also completely innocent,” he added.Mr. Vinatier and his parents met with France’s top diplomat, Jean-Noël Barrot, at the French foreign ministry headquarters in Paris on Thursday, the ministry said.“Our compatriot Laurent Vinatier is free and back in France,” President Emmanuel Macron of France said on social media. “I share the relief of his family and loved ones,” he added, saying he was grateful for the work of diplomats.Mr. Vinatier’s employer said his colleagues were “overjoyed at his return.”A video published on Thursday by the Russian news agency Tass showed Mr. Vinatier, with slightly longer hair than in photos from the time of his arrest, exiting a prison in the snow after an official read out the presidential pardon. The video later showed Mr. Kasatkin coming out of a plane, which Mr. Vinatier was then ushered into.At an annual news conference in December, a French journalist asked President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia about Mr. Vinatier.“Who?” Mr. Putin replied, before adding: “I promise I will definitely find out what this is about.”Shortly after, Dmitry S. Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, told reporters that “a proposal” had been made to France, without providing details. “The ball is now in France’s court,” he said at the time.Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, multiple Western journalists and researchers have been detained, caught up in rising tensions between Russia and countries supporting Ukraine.Several American citizens have also been imprisoned and released. Ksenia Karelina, a Russian-American dual citizen, detained in Russia over a donation to a Ukrainian charity group, was released in April last year in exchange for Artur Petrov, a dual Russian-German citizen. Other high-profile prisoner swaps involved the American basketball star Brittney Griner and the journalist Evan Gershkovich.Ségolène Le Stradic is a reporter and researcher covering France.SKIP