Russia link suspected in Eiffel Tower coffin mystery

French intelligence officials suspect that Russia is involved in a strange incident near the Eiffel Tower in Paris. It is believed that three men arrived in a van at around 09:00 on Saturday and left five coffins draped in a French flag and labeled as 'French soldiers of Ukraine' near the Eiffel Tower. However, the coffins were later found to contain sacks of plaster. The driver, who claimed to have been paid €40 by the other two men to transport the coffins, was quickly apprehended. He had arrived in Paris from Bulgaria just the day before. The two others, who were Ukrainian and German, were caught at a coach station in central Paris, where they were allegedly planning to board a bus to Berlin. They told the police that they had been paid €400 to deposit the coffins. The driver was Bulgarian, and they were taken before a judge on Sunday, and a judicial investigation for 'violence with premeditation' is expected to be opened. The circumstances of this incident are similar to two recent episodes in which French police believe Russian agents may have been involved. Both incidents appear to have been attempts to manipulate public opinion. In October, Stars of David reminiscent of the Israeli flag were displayed not long after an attack on Israel, and a Moldovan couple was arrested, who French officials 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 Le Monde newspaper, one of the individuals held on Saturday had been in telephone contact with a Bulgarian suspect wanted for the red-hands affair. 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 been held over the despatch of French military instructors. This could provide the context for the coffins affair, investigators think, with Russian intelligence seeking to show that there is big opposition to deeper French involvement in the Ukraine war. In both the Stars of David and red-hands affairs, the teams included a photographer whose pictures subsequently appeared on Internet sites linked to Russian propaganda.