A court in the Russian capital ordered further pretrial detention on July 4 for a French researcher arrested in June who Russian investigators said a day before pleaded guilty to illegally obtaining information about the Russian military.
Forty-eight-year-old Frenchman Laurent Vinatier was initially sent into pretrial detention on June 7 over the alleged spying and for purportedly failing to register as a "foreign agent."
Vinatier is an adviser who works for the Geneva-based Center for Humanitarian Dialogue (HD), a nonprofit conflict-resolution organization, and "travels regularly for his work," according to the group.
The HD says it is "doing everything possible to assist" and get legal representation for Vinatier, and is "reaching out to relevant governmental authorities."
Radio France International reported that HD acknowledged that Vinatier had not registered as a "foreign agent" because he was unaware of such an obligation.
Russia has long used its "foreign agent" laws to jail perceived domestic and international enemies and critics.
But it has stepped up detentions of Westerners under those and other charges since its all-out invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022.
A "foreign agent" conviction can result in a five-year prison sentence.
In some cases -- including one against jailed RFE/RL journalist Alsu Kurmasheva that Washington has said is to punish journalism -- allegations concerning Russia's military amid what Moscow calls a "special military operation" against Ukraine have accompanied the "foreign agent" charge.
The Russian Investigative Committee alleged publicly that the information Vinatier gathered "could be used against state security."