French law enforcement officials announced on Wednesday the arrest of a Russian citizen who is suspected of planning to disrupt this week’s Olympic Games in Paris.
The unnamed 40-year-old was reportedly charged with “conducting intelligence work on the behest of a foreign power” because of his alleged efforts to “organize events likely to cause destabilization” of the international athletic competition.
Although no specific details of the investigation were released, prosecution sources told AFP that while the incident was not terrorist in nature, a search of the subject’s residence uncovered evidence of potential criminal activity.
Russia’s Embassy in Paris informed various news outlets that they had not received notification of the incident.
France’s Interior Minister, Gerald Darmanin, said this week that his agency will be deploying 30,000 police officers each day of the contest, in an operation that he described as “the largest global event that a country can organize.”
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