An officer of the French army has been indicted for treason for the benefit of Russia. A case that is talked about as far as Moscow, where the press hastened to recall that it was far from a first. Other European countries have experienced the same thing, and have gone so far as to expel Russian diplomats.

It's an absurd story that would almost make you smile if it weren't for ultra-sensitive documents. As Europe 1 revealed to you this weekend, an officer of the French army was recently indicted for treason for the benefit of Russia. While stationed with NATO, he would have provided information to the Russian secret services, the GRU. And in Russia too, the matter is talking.

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A case far from a first

The local press echoed it on Monday morning. St. Petersburg online media Tanka describes a delicate matter and recalls that this is not the first case of espionage in European Union countries in which Russia is involved. Moreover, the newspaper Novaya Gazeta lists the latest cases of the same type which have made the headlines of the Russian media in recent weeks. And there are many. In the Czech Republic, Austria, Slovakia or Norway, spies have also been discovered. The newspaper recalls that the latest case, in August in Norway, resulted in the expulsion of a Russian diplomat. Expulsions, recalls the  Nezavissimaïa Gazeta , to which Russia systematically responds with reciprocity.

In France, justice was seized by the Ministry of the Armed Forces which, after seeing the senior officer in contact with a Russian spy in Italy, triggered article 40 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. "We have taken all the necessary measures. Now it is necessary that the justice can do its work in the respect of the secrecy of the instruction", explained the minister in charge, Florence Parly, on Europe 1 Sunday.