Ex-head of the General Directorate of External Security (DGSE) of France Bernard Bazhola spoke about the “Russian Merchant”, implemented in the Ministry of Defense of the country in 2017, during an interview for the documentary “Vladimir Putin: the owner of the game.” It is reported by RIA Novosti.
According to Bazhola, being as director general service, he brought this information to the authorities. He noted that before that the priority of intelligence was the fight against terrorism, since the Cold War was over, and “it was not necessary to spend time on the fight against spies that no more.” “Despite this, we can clearly make sure that spyware has not stopped,” added French politician.
Former head of DGSE noted that the number of Russian spies in France remains “at least” at the same level as in Soviet times. At the same time, the current head of the department Jean-Yves Drian stated that the words of Bazola were surprised there, since “issues of this type belong to classified, and the disclosure of data in this area is prosecuted.”
In 2019, the French edition Le Monde reported that in the country they found and exposed a Russian spy, but did not give this information to this information. According to the publication, it was about Sergey Zheltikov, who held consular posts. It was supposedly revealed by the head of the Main Directorate of Internal Security (Counterintelligence, DGSI), but the French Foreign Ministry did not know anything about this.