Khodorkovsky & Lebedev Communications Center

The French secret service has reportedly expressed alarm over plans for a Russian Orthodox cathedral in Paris, fearing it will be used by Moscow as a front for spies.

The go-ahead for the onion-domed cathedral by the Eiffel Tower was considered a brilliant diplomatic coup in Russia as at least two other countries were vying for the prized property by the Seine. But it sparked deep reservations at the Quai d'Orsay, France's foreign ministry, and the DCRI, its MI6, because the building is close to a sensitive diplomatic compound.

French counterespionage was particularly concerned, as Vladimir Kozhin, the Russian in charge of trying to buy the 8,400 square meter plot, is a former KGB agent and head of the Kremlin property department. French intelligence concerns were compounded by the fact that it had detected a significant rise in Russian spy activity since the election of President Sarkozy in 2007, reaching heights not seen since the mid-1980s.

Kozhin is a close associate of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who was the property department's number two in the 1990s. Putin and President Dmitri Medvedev are said to have considered the construction of the Paris cathedral a key step in regaining control over the Russian Diaspora and legitimizing their administration, as well as a spectacular display of Russian power in Western Europe.