MOSCOW, June 6. /TASS/. The French citizen detained in Moscow for possibly gathering military intelligence on Russia is an employee of the Swiss Center for Humanitarian Dialogue, a law enforcement agency source told TASS.

"The detainee is Laurent Vinatier, born in 1976. He is a consultant at the Swiss Center for Humanitarian Dialogue, dealing with Eurasian issues after the February 2014 coup in Ukraine," a source said. Prior to that, he was dealing with issues of the conflict in Chechnya.

According to the press service of the Russian Investigative Committee, for several years, the man, who failed to register himself as a foreign agent in compliance with Russian legislation, has been gathering information on Russia's military and military-technical activities.

The Investigative Committee noted that this information, if obtained by foreign sources, could be used against the security of the state. "He repeatedly visited the territory of Russia, including Moscow, where he met with citizens of the Russian Federation", it said. The man was detained in a well-planned operation and taken to a subdivision of the Moscow investigative committee for investigative actions. He will shortly face charges and a measure of restraint will be chosen.

Moscow’s investigative committee has launched a criminal case under part 3 of article 330.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (evasion of duties envisaged by the legislation of the Russian Federation on foreign agents).