A French citizen was arrested in Russia for “illegally” crossing the border by boat from Estonia and remanded in custody for at least 30 days, the Russian security services (FSB) said on Tuesday.
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“The verification measures carried out revealed that the person in question is a French citizen. “The foreigner admitted that he illegally crossed the border of the Russian Federation by bypassing the checkpoints established between Estonia and Russia by crossing the Narva River by boat,” said an FSB statement cited by security authorities. Russian press.
According to a spokeswoman for the border guard, which is part of the FSB, “the detainee was in custody for a period of 30 days.”
According to the Russian Criminal Code, he faces a prison sentence of two to six years.
The Estonian authorities had been “informed” about the incident and the arrest of the French citizen, the FSB said, although it did not say whether the French embassy in Moscow had been informed.
The Russian security services did not provide any further information about the identity of the arrested French citizen in their press release.
According to the Estonian Interior Ministry, Estonia, a member of NATO and the EU, and Russia share a border of 338.6 km, of which more than 75 km is along the Narva River.