Laurent Vinatier* was traded for a Russian basketball player.

The FSB reported on the exchange of convicted French political scientist Laurent Vinatier* for Russian basketball player Daniil Kasatkin. The political scientist, who researched the North Caucasus, including Chechnya, was pardoned by presidential decree and released from further punishment.

As reported by the "Caucasian Knot," a Moscow court sentenced French researcher Laurent Vinatier* to three years in prison, finding him guilty of collecting military information. An appeal of the verdict was dismissed. French authorities called the verdict unfounded and demanded the scientist's release. Vinatier* previously researched the North Caucasus, including Chechnya. Human rights activists have recognized Vinatier* as a political prisoner. In August 2025, new information emerged about a new case against Vinatier* on charges of espionage.

On January 8, 2026, basketball player Daniil Kasatkin, who had been detained in France and whose extradition to the United States had been requested by American authorities, was returned to his homeland.

"Kasatkin was exchanged for French citizen Vinatier Laurent Claude Jean-Louis, born in 1976, who, as an employee of the Swiss non-governmental organization "Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue," collected military and military-technical information," the FSB Public Relations Center reported today, noting that Vinatier* had been pardoned by decree of the Russian president.

The FSB released a video of the exchange. According to a video published by TASS, Vinatier* was told he was "released from further imprisonment." He then walked out of the facility with a large bag and was placed in a car. Judging by the footage, Vinatier was sent home on the same plane that Kasatkin had taken to Russia. After the Russian disembarked, the Frenchman boarded.

During a live Q&A on December 19, 2025, Putin, responding to a French journalist's question about the case against Vinatier*, said he was hearing about it for the first time. LCI journalist Jerome Garraud, who appealed to Russian President Vladimir Putin during a direct line with a request to pardon Vinatier*, stated on December 23, 2025, that Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov called him and said that Putin "instructed a review of the case" of Laurent Vinatier, Kommersant reported.

On December 25, 2025, Peskov reported at a briefing that Russia made an offer to the French authorities regarding Vinatier*, but did not disclose what the offer was.

Russian basketball player Daniil Kasatkin, for whom Vinatier* was traded, was detained on June 21, 2025, at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris at the request of the United States, which suspected him of involvement in a hacker network that used ransomware against American companies and federal agencies in 2020–2022. On October 29, 2025, a Paris court ordered Kasatkin's extradition to the United States at the request of American authorities. In the United States, he faced up to 25 years in prison on charges of computer fraud. Kasatkin himself denies all accusations against him, RBK reports.

As a reminder, in 2007, Laurent Vinatier* gave an interview to a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent, in which he spoke about his work in Chechnya.

"On "Chechen" issues, I work with 2003. In particular, as part of my doctoral work at the French Institute of Political Analysis, I study in detail the problems of the Chechen diaspora in Europe, the South Caucasus, Turkey and Russia, where I mainly ask the question: how do Chechen refugees, being outside their native land, organize themselves at the social and political levels, create diasporas and exist within this framework? – the researcher said.

In 2003, his book on Chechen-Russian relations was published in Paris.

"Its beginning is devoted to the first Chechen campaign and the factors that led to the outbreak of the war. In the second part of the book, I tried to show why, since 2001, the Chechens have lost influence on the main course of the conflict. Then there was... an attempt to understand why the war cannot end," said Laurent Vinatier*.

In 2007, he, while noting successes in the socio-economic sphere and the restoration of the republic, gave a negative forecast regarding the observance of human rights in the region.

"There is no law in Chechnya. I mean that there is an objective lack of guarantee that human rights will be respected," the researcher suggested.

* are listed as foreign agents.

** Meta (owner of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp) is banned in Russia.