By Juliette Jabkhiro
PARIS/LONDON, Dec 3 (Reuters) – A French-Russian national detained in France on suspicion of espionage has an extensive network of ties with Kremlin proxies, Reuters has found by examining social media posts dating from 2023 until May this year.
Anna Novikova, the 40-year-old founder of a humanitarian organisation which says it brings aid to people living in Russian-controlled parts of Ukraine, is one of three people who the Paris prosecutor’s office announced last week were suspected of espionage on behalf of a foreign power.
Novikova is suspected by prosecutors of approaching executives of French companies to obtain information about French economic interests, the prosecutors said.
They did not identify the companies, or give any details about how she carried out the alleged activities and who she was in contact with.
EUROPEAN CONCERN ABOUT ‘HYBRID WARFARE’
Novikova is in a French pre-trial detention facility, according to her husband, who added that a legal representative for Novikova had not yet been appointed.
The prosecutors’ announcement comes at a time of deep concern in Europe that Russia is pursuing “hybrid warfare” to undermine Kyiv’s allies as it wages war in Ukraine.
Hybrid warfare is a term used to describe non-military acts of hostility such as disinformation, sabotage and influence campaigns. French President Emmanuel Macron said last week Russia was using proxy groups to threaten Europe and France, including through hybrid warfare methods.
Novikova’s husband told Reuters he could not comment about the specifics of the charges but that his wife sincerely believed in her humanitarian mission. He said he found it “unbelievable” that she would be involved in espionage, adding: “It just does not tally with her psychology.
Novikova’s husband spoke to Reuters on condition his name not be published, citing his wish to protect the privacy of the couple’s young children.
In a 2023 interview posted on the Telegram channel of SOS Donbass, the organisation she founded, Novikova said: “I am just an ordinary woman.”
Referring to Russia’s federal security service, she said, when asked by the interviewer to introduce herself and the work of her organisation: “I’m not an agent of the Kremlin or the FSB.”
The social media posts and other records seen by Reuters do not show that Novikova or her associates were involved in criminal activity, and Reuters was unable to establish if the contacts she had were part of the French prosecutors’ investigation. But the contacts shine a light on the circles in which she had a part.
Another of the three people who prosecutors say they suspect of spying is Vincent Perfetti. He took over from Novikova in April 2024 as head of SOS Donbass, the organisation announced at the time.
A lawyer for Perfetti, David Bocobza, said his client disputed the allegations, which he said were “absurd” and amounted to punishment for holding pro-Russian views. Reuters was unable to find any information about the third spying suspect.
VISITS TO DONBAS AND MOSCOW
Novikova, who was born in Russia and later moved to France, founded SOS Donbass after a Russian-backed separatist uprising in Ukraine’s Donbas region in 2014. It collected humanitarian aid for civilians in the region and campaigned for closer ties between France and Russia.
In October 2023, she visited Donbas, where she had a meeting with the Donbas chapter of United Russia, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s party, the chapter’s Telegram channel showed.
An accompanying post said they discussed “joint cooperation in the humanitarian, informational, educational and other spheres.”
The Donbas chapter of the party, in a written response to a request for comment, said: “In France you now call providing humanitarian aid for the needy residents of Donbas espionage against France. It’s complete nonsense.”
Novikova also had contacts with the People’s Front, a movement established at Putin’s initiative to mobilise grassroots support for Kremlin policies.
Online records pertaining to Novikova and reviewed by Reuters show that in July 2023 she was in contact with People’s Front representatives in Russia.
The following month, she visited the People’s Front office in Moscow and took part in a livestreamed discussion, a recording of the discussion showed.
The People’s Front did not respond to a request for comment.
Novikova holds the rank of deputy to the ataman, or group leader, in the Association of Cossacks of France, according to a message from the group to mark International Women’s Day in March 2025 that was posted on social media by the ataman, Guennadui Chmyrev.
He also posted photographs dated May 2024 and May 2025 showing Novikova in Cossack uniform attending the group’s events.
The main Russian Cossack organisations are loyal to Putin and fight alongside Russian forces in Ukraine.
According to a 2015 certificate of affiliation seen by Reuters, the group in France comes under the main Cossack body, endorsed by the Kremlin, called the Union of Cossack Warriors of Russia and Abroad.
The certificate was signed by Viktor Vodolatsky, who at the time headed the Union and is under European Union and U.S. sanctions for backing Russian actions in Ukraine.
Vodolatsky did not respond to a request for comment. Contacted by Reuters, Chmyrev said Novikova is a patriot who did important humanitarian work for Donbas, adding: “Anna is a person with a good soul, and a big heart.”
The Union of Cossack Warriors did not respond to a request for comment.
Novikova has also been part of a network, based in Germany, that organised photo exhibits around Europe highlighting the suffering of children in the war in Ukraine, videos and photos posted online show.
She joined the main organisers at a protest at NATO headquarters in Brussels in March 2023, and helped organise two similar protests in France: one outside a weapons factory in the city of Tarbes in January 2023, and one in Paris in February 2023, photos posted on social media by participants showed.
A Reuters investigation this year found the network is connected to the Russian state and its proxies. Oksana Walter, who was the public face of the group organising the events in Germany, did not respond to a Reuters request for comment for this article.
CONNECTIONS WITH INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE IN FRANCE
Novikova told French newspaper Sud Ouest last year she had met Florian Philippot, the leader of the Patriots, a far-right party on the fringe of French politics.
She said she had also been due to meet Jean-Marie Le Pen, late former leader of the far-right National Front party, but did not do so.
Philippot told Reuters he did not know Novikova and his only contact with her was when she asked to take a selfie with him at one of his public events.
In August 2023, Novikova arranged to call a person called Martial Arneodo, according to the online records Reuters reviewed.
Reuters identified a man with the same name, living in the same region of France as Novikova, who, according to his LinkedIn profile, is an IT consultant who has done work for Airbus, Safran and Naval Group. All three companies carry out defence contracts.
Russian travel records for Arneodo seen by Reuters show he was in Russia in late 2018 and early 2019. He posted a photo of himself in front of the Kremlin on Facebook in March 2019.
Contacted by Reuters, Arneodo said, without elaborating, that he knew of Novikova and SOS Donbass but did not recall Novikova contacting him directly.
He said it was “laughable” that she was suspected of spying for Russia. He did not respond when asked what companies he had worked for. Airbus declined comment, Safran said it had no comment and Naval Group did not respond to Reuters.
Novikova also planned to make contact in August 2024 with a man called Raphael Waxin, the online records showed.
Someone of that name works for France-headquartered energy firm TotalEnergies and was in charge of Human and Organizational factors and Safety Culture, according to a 2022 TotalEnergies news release.
Contacted by phone, Waxin confirmed he worked for TotalEnergies but declined to confirm or deny meeting Anna Novikova. He later sent Reuters a message saying Novikova “had never tried to ‘solicit’ me.”
A TotalEnergies representative said Waxin was now in a different role, as an exploration engineer, and said TotalEnergies never comments on the personal affairs of employees.
(Juliette Jabkhiro reported from Paris and Anton Zverev reported from London, Additional reporting by Tassilo Hummel in Paris, Polina Nikolskaya in London and Mari Saito in Berlin, Writing by Christian Lowe, Editing by Timothy Heritage)
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