RUSSIA: Why did "intelligence service" sponsor attacks on French places of worship?

A Serbian court convicted three Serbian nationals in December 2025 of participating in attacks to desecrate 3 Paris synagogues in May 2025 and 9 Paris area mosques in September 2025. "Every time an event like this happens, worshippers wonder if they really are safe when they come to pray," a mosque employee said. The verdicts – seen by Forum 18 – say "structures of the intelligence service of the Russian Federation" gave the group instructions and money. These were the first known Russian-in