Chef working for FSB: investigation reveals details about Russian detained in Paris
The Russian detained in Paris on 19 July on suspicion of preparing provocations during the 2024 Olympics turned out to be Kirill Griaznov, a 40-year-old Russian chef. He revealed his plans in a drunken conversation which caught the attention of special services.
According to a joint investigation by The Insider, Der Spiegel and Le Monde, reportedly, Griaznov, who participated in cooking TV shows, was recruited by Russian special services to carry out provocations at the Olympics in Paris.
On 7 May he had to head out to Paris with a transfer in Istanbul. However, he was so drunk that he was not only forbidden from boarding a plane, but also blacklisted.
Griaznov went to Bulgaria by car where he got drunk again and started telling random people that he was not just going to Paris but had a secret mission.
"They will remember this Olympics for a long time!", he exclaimed without explaining what he meant.
Griaznov called someone in front of witnesses and reported that he had recruited another Moldovan man from Chisinau for the mission and everything went according to plan.
The investigation reports that Griaznov was practising law before moving to France in 2010. After moving, he became a cook and worked in a Michelin restaurant in Courchevel.
In 2012 he returned to Russia and told the owner of his Parisian apartment that he started working "for the government".
It is still unknown what the exact plan of Griaznov’s provocation was. So far the official version is that it was a "large-scale operation" which would have "serious consequences during the three weeks of the Olympics".
The Parisian Prosecutor’s Office states that some "diplomatic material" and certificates were found during the search which points at Griaznov’s involvement in the "subunit V" of Russia special services.
The Insider assumes that this might be the certificate of the Vympel (a sort of banner widely used in the navy around the world – ed.), the special forces unit of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB).
At the moment Griaznov is held in custody in France and may face up to 30 years of imprisonment.
Gérald Darmanin, the Minister of Internal Affairs of France, stated earlier that he feared Russia’s attempts to use the Olympics with the goal of spying or discrediting France.
He added that about a thousand individuals were not allowed to participate in the organisation of the Olympics due to suspicions of interference by a foreign state.