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French Authorities Detain Belarusian National Suspected of Spying on Drone Facility for Russia
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French authorities have detained a Belarusian national on suspicion of gathering intelligence on a French drone production facility on behalf of Russia, BFMTV reported on June 19.
The Paris prosecutor’s office confirmed that the man had been taken into custody after being caught collecting information about a company involved in the production of unmanned aerial vehicles.
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The 48-year-old Belarusian man was arrested on June 3 while filming a prototype drone, according to prosecutors.
The company in question supplies drones both to the French armed forces and to Ukraine.
“The investigation by the General Directorate for Internal Security (DGSI) established that he may have sent the video to a contact in Russia,” the Paris prosecutor’s office said.
Similar espionage-related concerns involving Russian intelligence activity have also been reported in other European countries.
In May, Austria has ordered the expulsion of three Russian diplomats, declaring them persona non grata over suspicions related to a so-called “antenna forest” installed on the roofs of Russian diplomatic properties, which authorities believe could have been used for intelligence gathering.
A large array of satellite dishes mounted on buildings linked to the Russian state in Vienna — including a residential complex housing diplomatic personnel — has for years been under scrutiny by Austria’s domestic intelligence services.
Officials have repeatedly warned that such equipment could potentially be used to intercept satellite communications from other countries.
“It is unacceptable for diplomatic immunity to be misused for espionage activities,” Foreign Minister Beate Meinl-Reisinger said, confirming that the three diplomats had already left the country. Their expulsion brings to 14 the total number of Russian diplomats removed by Austria since 2020.
At the same time, Russia has markedly intensified its campaign of targeted killings across Europe since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, expanding its focus to include Russian dissidents as well as foreign supporters of Kyiv.
According to Western intelligence officials, Russian security services are increasingly outsourcing such operations to criminal intermediaries rather than relying directly on intelligence officers. They said this shift in tactics comes in the wake of mass expulsions of Russian diplomats and intelligence personnel from Western countries following the 2018 poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal in the United Kingdom.
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