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An airport located at the Swiss-French border was evacuated and then reopened due to a bomb alert, the French police said, just hours after a ‘massive, coordinated arson attack’ disrupted France ‘s rail network ahead of the Olympics opening ceremony on Friday. Basel-Mulhouse airport’s terminals were evacuated on Friday morning and all flights had been suspended. ‘For safety reasons, the terminal had to be evacuated and is currently closed,’ the Basel-Mulhouse EuroAirport had said on its website.
But now the airport’s site says that it has ‘reopened and all flight operations are gradually restarting’. This comes in the midst of Olympic Games chaos after fires were started at France’s key installations last night, bringing trains to a halt and affecting around 800,000 passengers, with just hours to go before the Olympics opening procession on the River Seine.
While no claim of responsibility has been made and French authorities are yet to name suspects, there is a clear correlation between the targeted attacks and the Olympics getting underway. Concerns have been raised that Moscow may be behind the attack.
Kirill Gryaznov (pictured), 40, was arrested on Wednesday and charged with working ‘with a foreign power to try and incite hostilities in France’ after being identified as working for the FSB, Vladimir Putin’s domestic intelligence agency. Gryaznov – who denies any wrongdoing – is said to have boasted about turning the start of the Paris Olympics into ‘an opening ceremony like no other’. Security analyst Alex Kokcharov told MailOnline: ‘Russia has both the intent and capability to attempt sabotage acts in Europe, especially in France. Russian intent is largely linked to the fact that Russia was not invited to the Olympic games.’
The Kremlin fumed today that it had read ‘curious information’ in the media about the arrest of a Russian national, and demanded an explanation from French authorities. The Eurostar is advising passengers not to travel today after its rail services between London and Paris were disrupted by the acts of vandalism, the BBC has reported, with several trains cancelled and others diverted.
It was warned back in April that Moscow has made ‘thousands’ of attempts to interfere with European rail networks in a campaign to destabilise the EU and sabotage infrastructure. The claims were made by the Czech Republic’s transport minister Martin Kupka, who told the FT that ‘thousands of attempts to weaken our systems’ had been made since Putin ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Today’s disruption comes hours ahead of the opening of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games – with many opening ceremony ticket-holders desperately scrambling to make tonight’s show. The International Olympic Committee chief Thomas Bach has said he has ‘full confidence in French authorities’ after the attacks.
Pictures show chaos at railway stations across Paris, as well as travelers hoping to head to the French capital from London being stranded at St Pancras. The Gare du Nord – the main Eurostar station in Paris – was hit by attacks on its rail network overnight, according to a spokesman for SNCF, France’s rail operator.
This caused the cancellation of multiple services, including ones meant to be bringing sports fans from London into the French capital, with thousands of UK travellers planning to head to Paris today for the opening ceremony. Analysts have warned in the run up to the event that Russian saboteurs were preparing to disrupt the Games, which their national team is shut out of. More to follow.
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