‘Olympic’ Provocateur, Who Turned Out to Be Chef Recruited by FSB, Detained in Paris

On 19 July, a 40-year-old Russian chef, Kirill Gryaznov, was detained in Paris on suspicion of preparing provocations during the Olympic Games.

This was reported in a joint investigation by Der Spiegel, Le Monde and The Insider.

According to the journalists, Gryaznov, who appeared on TV cooking shows, was recruited by Russian special services to provoke at the Paris Olympics.

He mentioned his plans in a drunken conversation, which attracted the attention of the special services.

On 7 May, he was supposed to fly to Paris with a stopover in Istanbul, but he got so drunk that he was not only denied boarding a plane at the Istanbul airport, but also blacklisted.

He took a car to Bulgaria, where he got drunk again and began telling random people that he had gone to Paris for a reason, on a secret mission.

‘They will remember this Olympics for a long time!’ he threatened, without explaining what he meant.

In front of witnesses, he called someone and reported that he had hired another Moldovan from Chisinau for the task and that everything was going according to plan.

According to the investigation, before moving to France in 2010, Griaznov practised law. After moving, he became a chef and worked in a Michelin-starred restaurant in Courchevel.

In 2012, he returned to Russia and told the landlady of his Paris apartment that he was now working ‘for the state’.

It is not known for certain what exactly Gryaznov's plan of provocation was. So far, it has been officially stated that it was a ‘large-scale project’ that would have ‘serious consequences during the three weeks of the Olympics’.

According to the Paris prosecutor's office, during the arrest, the Russian was found to have certain ‘diplomatic materials’ and an ID card indicating his affiliation with ‘Unit V’ of the Russian special services.

The Insider suggests that this may be a certificate of the FSB's Vympel special forces.

Gryaznov is currently in custody in France and faces up to 30 years in prison.

Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin had previously said that he feared Russia's attempts to use the Olympics to spy on or discredit France. 

According to him, about 1,000 people suspected of interfering in the interests of a foreign state were not allowed to participate in the organisation of the Olympics.