A French citizen was arrested in Russia for “illegally” crossing the border from Estonia by boat, and placed in pre-trial detention for at least 30 days, the Russian security services (FSB) announced on Tuesday.
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“The verification measures carried out made it possible to establish that the person in question is a French citizen. The foreigner admitted to illegally crossing the border of the Russian Federation by avoiding the checkpoints established between Estonia and Russia by crossing the Narva River by boat,” the FSB said in a statement cited by security agencies in the russian press
According to a spokeswoman for the border guards, who belong to the FSB, “the detainee was placed in preventive detention for a period of 30 days.”
He faces two to six years in prison, according to the Russian criminal code.
Estonian authorities were “informed” of the incident and the arrest of the French citizen, the FSB said, but did not say whether the French embassy in Moscow had been notified.
In their press release, the Russian security services did not provide further details about the identity of the arrested French citizen.
NATO and EU member Estonia and Russia share a common border of 338.6 km, including more than 75 km along the Narva River, according to the Estonian Interior Ministry.
