PARIS, Aug 2, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - France on Friday welcomed a historic
prisoner swap between Russia and the West and urged Moscow to set free French
citizen Laurent Vinatier and other people still "arbitrarily" detained in the
country.

"France shares the sentiment of the families and allied governments following
the release of several political prisoners held in Russia," the French
foreign ministry said in a statement.

"Our thoughts are with those who remain arbitrarily detained in Russia,
including our compatriot Laurent Vinatier. France calls for their immediate
release."

France said it paid tribute "to the courage of the men and women who, in
Russia as elsewhere, defend freedom of speech and opinion despite the risks
involved."

In the biggest East-West prisoner swap since the Cold War, 10 Russians were
traded for 16 Westerners and Russians imprisoned in Russia in a dramatic
exchange on the airport tarmac in Turkey's capital Ankara on Thursday.

US officials said that the swap should have included the leader of the
Russian opposition, Alexei Navalny, but he was suddenly pronounced dead in
his remote Arctic prison in February just as the secret talks were at a
crucial stage.

In the statement, Paris singled out Navalny, reiterating that "Russian
authorities must be held to account" for the death of Vladimir Putin's
charismatic critic.

Academic Vinatier, 48, is accused of gathering Russian military information
without registering as a "foreign agent". He faces a maximum sentence of five
years in prison if convicted.

Putin ramped up a historic crackdown on dissent after invading Ukraine in
February 2022, with hundreds of political prisoners and arbitrarily detained
people held in prisons across the country, according to human rights
activists.

Among them are theatre director Yevgeniya Berkovich and writer Svetlana
Petriychuk, historian Yury Dmitriev, journalist Ivan Safronov and Arseny
Turbin, a teenage Navalny supporter.