A French man arrested with an arsenal of weapons and explosives "has been accused by Ukrainian police of plotting a string of terror attacks before and during Euro 2016," according to Kim Willsher of the London GUARDIAN.
French police are insisting, however, they have "no evidence the 25-year-old, said to hold far-right ultra-nationalist views, was planning terrorism and suggested he may have been smuggling arms." A French police spokesperson said, "We have nothing to confirm or refute a possible terrorist link ... we have asked (the Ukrainians) for more information." Ukraine’s state security service "stopped the man in a white van last month near the border with Poland."
Ukrainian officials said the man "was planning to carry out 15 attacks on bridges, railways, synagogues, mosques, public buildings including tax offices and motorways."
A video made by Ukrainian security and posted on YouTube "purportedly shows the man loading a white van with weapons before being dragged out of the vehicle by soldiers near the Ukraine-Poland checkpoint at Yagodyn" (GUARDIAN, 6/6). The BBC wrote the man was identified by French media as Gregoire Moutaux. Ukraine Intelligence Head Vasyl Hrytsak said that the man" had planned 15 attacks." It was "not clear if the tournament itself was being targeted." Paris Police Prefect Michel Cadot said there was "no specific threat against any [Euro 2016] site." French authorities "have been on high security alert ahead of the European championships, amid fears that the tournament could be targeted by Islamist militants." President François Hollande said on Sunday that "the threat exists" but that France should not be daunted (BBC, 6/6). In London, Olearchyk & Chassany wrote in addition to the terror threat, France "is grappling with strikes and floods that could potentially disrupt transport in and around Paris." PM Manuel Valls last week played down the problems, urging foreign correspondents: “Tell your readers: ‘come by plane, come by car, come by train.'” Ukrainian officials said that they decided "to go public about the arrest after leaks in French media." Hrytsak: "We did not plan to make this information public before completion of Euro 2016 [games], but there was a leak" (FINANCIAL TIMES, 6/6).
