Moscow: Russia exchanged jailed French researcher Laurent Vinatier for a Russian basketball player who was detained in France, the Russian Federal Security Service announced on Thursday.

According to Anadolu Agency - English, the exchange involved Daniil Kasatkin, a basketball player, who was swapped for Laurent Claude Jean-Louis Vinatier, a French national born in 1976. Vinatier, working with the Swiss non-governmental non-profit organization Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, was accused of gathering military and military-technical information.

Vinatier received a pardon from Russian President Vladimir Putin prior to the exchange. He had been serving a three-year sentence since October 2024 for not registering as a foreign agent and faced additional espionage charges in May 2025.

Kasatkin's lawyer, Frederic Belot, confirmed the athlete's release from a French prison and subsequent return to Moscow. The basketball player was detained at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris in June 2025 following a US request related to cybercrime charges and "conspiracy to commit computer fraud."

Despite a Paris court approving Kasatkin's extradition to the US, where he could face up to 25 years in prison, the French prime minister never signed the extradition order. Kasatkin has consistently denied the hacking allegations against him.

Footage from the security service depicted Vinatier signing a pardon document and boarding a plane, while other videos showed Kasatkin arriving in Russia, disembarking from an aircraft, and entering a vehicle.