Russia Suspected in Eiffel Tower Coffin Stunt

Authorities in France suspect Russia may be responsible for the appearance of five coffins at the Eiffel Tower over the weekend that were covered with French flags bearing the words: “French soldiers in Ukraine.”

The plaster-filled caskets were discovered at the foot of the Paris landmark on Saturday morning, with three men arrested in connection with the incident later in the day, according to Le Monde. The coffins appeared after the Kremlin’s warnings to President Emmanuel Macron, who has refused to rule out sending ground troops to support Kyiv in its war against Moscow.

According to The Guardian, a white van with Bulgarian plates was seen stopping near the Eiffel Tower on Saturday, with two men spotted taking the coffins out of the vehicle. Following his arrest, the van’s driver—a 34-year-old Bulgarian—reportedly told police he’d been paid to take the caskets to Paris and met up with the two other suspects when he arrived.

The other pair, reportedly a German and a Ukrainian, traveled to the French capital separately. They were arrested at a coach station as they were about to catch a bus to Berlin—they too said they had been paid to drop off the coffins.

The group had been in contact with another man who was suspected of being involved in another possible interference operation last month, in which red hands were painted on the Wall of the Righteous at the Shoah Memorial in Paris. The monument honors people who saved Jews from persecution during the Nazi occupation of France during World War II.

That episode also reportedly shared similarities with an incident in October in which the Star of David was sprayed on walls around Paris shortly after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks in Israel. In that case, investigators came to suspect that Russia’s FSB security services were involved, according to Le Monde, with a Moldovan couple arrested in connection with the graffiti claiming that they had been instructed by an individual in Russia.