Russia reacts to Olympic ‘sabotage’ accusations

French authorities reported arson attacks on rail infrastructure hours before the Games’ opening ceremony

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has dismissed reports of alleged Russian involvement in recent attacks on French infrastructure during the Olympic Games as “unsubstantiated accusations” and “fakes.”

France’s high-speed train network was allegedly targeted early on Friday by several “coordinated” arson attacks, according to the country’s transport minister. The sabotage paralyzed high-speed rail travel ahead of the Olympics opening ceremony.

According to the Paris prosecutor’s office, a 40-year-old Russian man was taken into custody three days before the opening of the Games. The incident raised fears of his alleged “intention to organize events likely to cause destabilization during the Olympic Games,” the office told US Olympic broadcast partner NBC news.

“Low-quality media outlets, and even respected ones, have recently stopped at nothing to literally blame Russia for everything that is happening,” Peskov said on Monday, dismissing the accusations aimed at Moscow as “unsubstantiated fakes.”

He added that reports without evidence do nothing for the reputation of media outlets as supposedly “reliable sources of information.”

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Last week, outgoing French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said officials had thwarted four credible planned attacks on the Olympics, including one allegedly tied to a Russian national.

The profiles of those allegedly behind the rail attack “resembled the ultra-left’s operating procedure,” but “the question is if these people were manipulated by others or acted on their own behalf,” he added.

French authorities also reported on Monday that a number of fiber optic networks have been sabotaged across the country.

Meanwhile, Russian television channels and streaming services are not airing this year’s Games due to the International Olympic Committee’s ruling on the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes. While initially banning their participation, the international body later ruled that a limited number of individuals from the two countries could take part in the Olympics under a neutral flag. Just 36 Russian athletes are thought to have been approved, but 20 have since refused to take part, citing humiliating conditions. ​

The Paris Summer Olympics is the first event in 40 years to be boycotted by Russia. Previously the USSR snubbed the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, citing “security concerns and chauvinistic sentiments and an anti-Soviet hysteria being whipped up in the United States.”