Russia urged France on Wednesday to release Anna Novikova, a Russian-French national detained last year on suspicion of espionage.
Novikova, the founder of a humanitarian organisation which said it provided aid to people living in Russian-controlled parts of Ukraine, is one of three people who the Paris prosecutor’s office said in November were suspected of spying on behalf of a foreign power.
French prosecutors said she was suspected of approaching executives of French companies to obtain information about French economic interests.
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Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters that Novikova was being held on a false pretext in a case that exemplified the “spy mania sweeping across Europe”.
“We insist that the repression against individuals whose only crime is to express an opinion that differs from the official line in Paris must cease immediately,” Zakharova said.
(FRANCE 24 and Reuters)
