INTERVIEW
The case evokes the famous spy stories. As Europe 1 revealed on Sunday, a French soldier stationed at NATO, suspected of having transmitted sensitive information to Russia, was arrested for treason. For her part, the French Minister of the Armed Forces Florence Parly only confirmed on our antenna that a senior officer "is subject to legal proceedings for breach of security". It now remains for investigators to understand the possible motivations of the suspect, and the conditions of his recruitment. Invited Monday from Europe 1, Pierre Conesa, specialist in international and military strategic issues and former senior official at the Ministry of Defense, returned to this intriguing case, for which the soldier is indicted for four offenses.
DECRYPTION - French military suspected of spying for the benefit of Russia: what we know
“NATO remains interesting for the Russians”, he assures us, and remains “a military organization which has know-how, cooperation and planning techniques”. And when we do espionage, "we need to have people everywhere. We are not sure which one will provide the most adequate information at the best time. We need to have sources that can confront each other ". And to conclude: "Having someone in a NATO staff is obviously an important recruitment".
At this stage of the investigation, was it necessary to stop the suspect immediately, instead of letting him continue his action in order to, why not, get to know his network a little better? For Pierre Conesa, the right decision has been made. "From the moment it is in an inter-allied service, it is better to stop it immediately, otherwise it would be necessary to coordinate the intelligence services of everyone by saying:" He saw such and such a German officer, such an Italian officer , etc ". Also, he believes," the precaution was to arrest him and then have him tried by a judge ", because" we do not know whether he sold them gigantic defense secrets or the rupee of starling".
"You can hold someone with emotional, sexual blackmail"
Aged in his 50s and father of five, how could the suspected lieutenant-colonel have been recruited? In this area, recalls the guest from Europe 1, there are "fairly classic techniques", such as money. But recruiters can also play on ideological motivations. Pierre Conesa recalls that during the war in Bosnia, an officer had betrayed because he "wanted to avoid war". "His motivation, paradoxically, was peaceful," says Pierre Conesa.
Finally, "you can hold someone with emotional or sexual blackmail", or even by playing on their "frustration". According to Pierre Conesa, "the recruiting agent's technique is to know what form he should press, to bring someone, without having this feeling of crossing the yellow line, towards something which is a kind of complicity. To see on which rope to act for at a time, to make it switch ".