French intelligence services believe Russia was behind a frame-up in which five coffins draped with a French flag and bearing the inscription “French Soldiers of Ukraine” were left near the Eiffel Tower.
Three men were seen arriving in a van around 9 a.m. (0700 GMT) on Saturday. It was later discovered that the coffins they left behind contained bags of plaster.
Police quickly apprehended the driver, who claimed to have been paid €40 (£34) by the other two to transport the coffins. He himself had arrived in Paris the day before from Bulgaria.
Police later arrested the other two people at the Bercy bus station in central Paris, where they planned to board a bus to Berlin.
They told police they had received 400 euros to drop off the coffins, according to French media.
Police said the driver was Bulgarian and the other two were Ukrainian and German.
They were presented to a judge on Sunday, in anticipation of the planned opening of a judicial investigation for “premeditated violence”, the prosecution said.
Authorities said investigations were underway “to see if this was organized from abroad.”
These circumstances are reminiscent of two recent episodes in which French police believe Russian agents could be involved. Both appear to have been attempts to manipulate public opinion.
In October – shortly after Hamas carried out an unprecedented attack on Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking hundreds hostage – Stars of David reminiscent of the Israeli flag were stencilled on several walls in Paris.
A Moldovan couple was arrested, who French authorities believe were paid by Russian intelligence.
Last month, red hands were painted on a Holocaust memorial in Paris and police believe the perpetrators fled abroad.
According to the newspaper Le Monde, citing an investigation source, one of the people arrested on Saturday was in telephone contact with a Bulgarian suspect wanted for the Red Hands affair. Le Monde named this suspect as Georgi F., 34 years old.
Moscow reacted angrily last month to President Emmanuel Macron’s repeated refusal to rule out sending soldiers to Ukraine.
Last week, Ukrainian officials confirmed that discussions had taken place regarding sending French military instructors.
This could provide context for the coffin affair, investigators believe, with Russian intelligence seeking to show that there is strong opposition to deeper French involvement in the war in Ukraine.
In both the Stars of David and Red Hands cases, the teams included a photographer whose photos later appeared on websites linked to Russian propaganda.
