MOSCOW, January 8. /TASS/. Russian basketballer Daniil Kasatkin detained in France at the request of the United States has been returned to Russia in exchange for French national Laurent Vinatier who was convicted in the country (designated as a foreign agent in Russia), the Public Relations Center of the Federal Security Service (FSB) told TASS.
"On January 8, 2026, Russian basketball player Daniil Kasatkin detained in France whose extradition to the United States had been requested by American authorities, was returned to his homeland. D. Kasatkin was exchanged for a citizen of the French Republic, Vinatier Laurent Claude Jean-Louis, born in 1976, who as an employee of the Swiss non-governmental non-profit organization Center for Humanitarian Dialogue, collected military and military-technical information," the FSB Public Relations Center said.
Vinatier has been pardoned by Russian President’s decree, according to the Federal Security Service.
Kasatkin was arrested at Paris' Charles de Gaulle Airport at the request of US authorities on June 21. He was suspected of being part of a hacker group that carried out ransomware attacks targeting US businesses and federal agencies.
Vinatier was detained in Moscow in early June 2024. On October 14, Moscow’s Zamoskvoretsky district court found him guilty on charges of evading the duties under the Russian foreign agents law (part 3, article 330.1 of the Russian Criminal Code). Vinatier was sentenced to three years in a penitentiary colony. According to investigators, from August 23, 2021, to August 26, 2022, the man collected data about military and military-technical activities, and the mobilization campaign, of which he was obliged to notify a relevant Russian authority. The French national reportedly received information about the deployment of Russian forces in Ukraine, and about operational combat forecasts.