What was the Russian spy chief's wife doing in Paris last weekend?

Does Moscow have an eye on Paris? As Le Parisien reports, Tatyana Naryshkina was spotted in a diplomatic car in the capital on Monday, April 10

What was the Russian spy chief's wife doing in Paris last weekend?

Does Moscow have an eye on Paris? As Le Parisien reports, Tatyana Naryshkina was spotted in a diplomatic car in the capital on Monday, April 10. She is the wife of Sergei Naryshkin, the head of Russian foreign intelligence (SVR), heir to the KGB - who was not with her. According to Russian sources, Mrs. Naryshkina would have spent a few days on the Côte d'Azur, before going to Paris. Its presence questions.

"Let's say that Tatyana Narychkine comes to do her shopping... The fact that she is driving in a diplomatic car raises many questions," said Cécile Vaissié, professor at Rennes-II University and author of the book Les Réseaux du Kremlin en France. "Is the wife of the head of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service there to see people?" To settle some business? Would this be a quasi-official form of travel? "The European sanctions system may seem solid, but the presence of the wife of such a high-level leader shows that there are plenty of holes in the system", says Cécile Vaissié

Serguei Naryshkine has been banned from European territory since the annexation of Crimea in 2014. A ban that does not seem to affect him. Thus, shortly after the annexation of Crimea to Paris, under cover of a visit to the Council of Europe, he took the opportunity to meet with a delegation of business leaders - such as Dassault, Total, GDF-Suez - and deputies, loyal friends of Russian power, reported the newspaper Le Monde at the time.