On Monday, October 16, 2023, Oleg B., a technician working at the Czech branch of aerospace and defense corporation Thales, landed at Paris Charles-de-Gaulle airport with colleagues to attend a professional conference. As the group prepared to head for the taxi area, they were stopped by police: Oleg B. did not know it, but special officers from the French cybercrime unit C3N were waiting for him. The 30-something Russian national was taken in for questioning.
Oleg B. was suspected of being one of the key developers of Ragnar Locker, ransomware used by the eponymous cybercriminal group, which has been under judicial investigation since August 2023 – an investigation that remains ongoing – on charges including organized extortion, attacks on automated data processing systems and money laundering as part of an organized group and conspiracy. Although not as well known as LockBit or AlphV, Ragnar Locker remained, until several servers were seized in October 2023, a discreet and tightly-knit group specializing in "big game hunting" – targeting major companies. In France, victims included the e-commerce specialist LDLC and the shipping company CMA CGM.
Immediately after his arrest, a support committee was organized on Telegram by his wife, Evgeniya. "A disaster has befallen our friend Olegich," she wrote in panic on October 20 in a conversation that Le Monde was able to consult. At that point, no one in his circle understood the extent of the accusations – only that he was suspected of involvement in a cybercriminal gang and that the matter was serious. On the night of October 20, after appearing before an investigating judge, the Russian national was charged with conspiracy to commit a crime or offense and was placed in provisional detention.
'I lost my job'
For the past year and a half, Oleg B. has maintained his innocence, insisting he had nothing to do with Ragnar Locker and was arrested by mistake. "All of this was a real shock for me. Once you are thrown into the judicial machine, it is very difficult to get out," he told Le Monde in an interview in the presence of his lawyer, Frédéric Bélot. "They damaged my reputation, I lost my job while I was the breadwinner for my family, they took my equipment and my wife's equipment."
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