French Officer Detained on Charges of Spying for Russia

French Defense Minister Florence Parly confirmed on Sunday that a high-ranking officer is subject to a judicial question for compromising security, "without providing further information.”

In the meantime, Radio Europe-1 revealed that the General Directorate of Internal Security (DGSI) has arrested the officer who works at a NATO base in Italy. He was temporarily arrested in a Paris prison on suspicion of handing over sensitive documents to Russia.

The radio indicated on its website that the officer was recently charged with treason in favor of Russia. 

The DGSI arrested the officer while he was preparing to head again to Italy at the end of his vacation in France and was temporarily detained in a prison in Paris.

[caption id="attachment_146402" align="aligncenter" width="768"] French Defence Minister Florence Parly speaks during a press briefing following the weekly Cabinet meeting on February 8, 2018 at the Elysee palace in Paris.[/caption]

French Officer Being Investigated

On her part, the French Minister of the Armed Forces, Florence Parly, said Sunday to "Europe-1", and the newspaper Les Echos that "All I can confirm is that a high-ranking officer is subject to a judicial procedure for infringing on security," without going into details of the case.

The Paris prosecutor refused to comment on the matter in response to questions from the French news agency.

French Officer Met With Russian Agent

According to the radio, the lieutenant colonel is fifty years old and a father of five children. He speaks Russian and is seen in Italy with a man who turned out to be an agent of the Russian military's intelligence services.

The accusation or conviction of military personnel for spying for a foreign country, especially Russia or during the era of the former Soviet Union, is rare in France and the number of these cases does not exceed ten since the Cold War.

In July, two former foreign intelligence agents were sentenced for treason in favor of China.

In 2001, a French officer working for NATO was sentenced for providing Serbia in 1998 with information about the NATO raids on this country during the Kosovo war.

This information comes at a time when NATO is witnessing a complex phase and is under severe criticism from Donald Trump and faces unclear strategies due to the US foreign policy and also because of the tension between France and Greece on one hand and Turkey on the other hand.

In November 2019, French President Emmanuel Macron, a supporter of Europe's strategic independence vis-à-vis the United States, declared that NATO was in a state of "clinical death."