Police custody continues for the Russian-Ukrainian man arrested this Monday, June 4 in Roissy-en-France, northeast of Paris, while he was manufacturing explosive devices. The National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office (PNAT), suspecting the 26-year-old young man of planning violent action, took up the matter and opened an investigation.
Before being questioned at the General Directorate of Internal Security (DGSI), the suspect was taken care of by the firefighters on Monday. Wounded in the head with an explosive, he had “burns following an explosion”, said the PNAT, while he was staying in a hotel room near Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airport. Investigators found “products and materials intended for the manufacture of explosive devices”.
Little information has been revealed about this man’s background. Arriving “recently” in France according to a source close to the investigation cited by AFP, he is originally from Donbass, this region in eastern Ukraine known for the presence of pro-Russian separatists, and annexed by the Russia since September 2022. The suspect fought for two years in the Russian army, reflecting a somewhat insignificant pro-Russian commitment in the context of the conflict between Moscow and kyiv. The unit and region in which he was deployed have not yet been released.
Several hypotheses considered
None of the sources interviewed were able, for the moment, to specify whether the suspect is accused of having acted alone or if he had accomplices. But the PNAT retained two counts: participation in a criminal terrorist association, and possession of explosives or substances intended to compose an explosive, in connection with a terrorist enterprise.
If the motivations of this suspect are still unknown, several hypotheses are considered. The man could have wanted to attack freight bound for Ukraine departing from Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle. Furthermore, the presence of numerous heads of state and foreign leaders today in France for the commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the Normandy landings is one of the reasons which motivated the opening of an anti-terrorism investigation. Less than two months before the start of the Olympic Games, the authorities do not want to take any risks and have already foiled around fifty attacks since 2017.
The latest foiled attack plan would be of Islamist inspiration. A young 18-year-old Chechen, unknown to the intelligence services, was indicted and imprisoned on May 26 for having planned to commit an attack against the football events of the Olympic Games in Saint-Etienne.