With flags, song, pride, French celebrate unifying victory

It was a victory for all of France and the home crowd did it justice, pouring into Paris' Champs-Elysees Avenue by the tens of thousands to celebrate in an explosion of joy.

People react on the Champs Elysees avenue with the Arc de Triomphe on background, after France defeated Croatia in the final match at the 2018 soccer World Cup, in Paris, France, Sunday, July 15, 2018. France won the final 4-2. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

France's 4-2 win over Croatia in the World Cup final in Moscow on Sunday marked the second time in 20 years that France has won the World Cup, and came at a time when the people feel needy.

People celebrate on the Champs Elysees avenue after France won the soccer World Cup final match between France and Croatia, Sunday, July 15, 2018 in Paris. France won its second World Cup title by beating Croatia 4-2 . (AP Photo/Francois Mori)

"It represents enormous things," said Goffrey Hamsik, dressed in a hat resembling a rooster — the French national symbol — and a shirt with the No. 10 for Kylian Mpappe, the 19-year-old breakout star who hails from the Paris suburb of Bondy.

A crowd invades the Champs Elysees avenue, with the Arc de Triomphe in background, after France won the soccer World Cup final match between France and Croatia, Sunday, July 15, 2018 in Paris. France won its second World Cup title by beating Croatia 4-2 . (AP Photo/Francois Mori)

"We've had lots of problems in France these past years," he said, recalling deadly terror attacks. "This is good for the morale ... Here, we are all united. We mix. There is no religion, there is nothing, and that's what feels good."

Soccer fans celebrate in the fan zone after the final match between France and Croatia at the 2018 soccer World Cup in Moscow, Russia, Sunday, July 15, 2018. France fans did justice to their team's 4-2 victory over Croatia in the World Cup final on Sunday, pouring into Paris' Champs-Elysees Avenue by the tens of thousands to celebrate with cheers, stomping and song in an explosion of joy mimicked in cities around the nation. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

Troublemakers marred some of the festivities at the top of the Champs-Elysees, breaking the window of a major store, throwing bottles, temporary barriers and even a bicycle at riot police as the celebrations wound down close to midnight. Police responded with water cannon and tear gas. BFM-TV reported that the store was pillaged.

People celebrate on the Champs Elysees avenue after France won the soccer World Cup final match between France and Croatia, Sunday, July 15, 2018 in Paris. France won its second World Cup title by beating Croatia 4-2 . (AP Photo/Francois Mori)

Earlier, people wrapped in flags and dressed in crazy hats, and one man spotted totally nude except for the Tricolor, marched down the avenue where France displayed its military might a day earlier for Bastille Day.

Revelers set off smoke bombs in the national colors — blue, white and red — obscuring Napoleon's triumphal arch. People climbed atop every newspaper kiosk and bus stop in the area to wave flags and lead the crowds below in cheers. The national anthem, the Marseillaise, rang out, cars honked horns and cherry bombs cracks.

French soccer fans watch a live broadcast on a big screen of the final match between France and Croatia at the 2018 soccer World Cup, in Marseille, southern France, Sunday, July 15, 2018. (AP Photo/Claude Paris)

A young man sprayed a fire extinguisher on the crowd on a late hot afternoon.

Hundreds of police in riot gear were discretely lined up on side streets to monitor revelers. Typically, celebrations in France end up with some broken shop windows and other destruction, and Sunday was no exception. Tear gas was lobbed at one point on the Champs-Elysees. About 4,000 police watched over the fan zone — packed to its 90,000 capacity — during the match, then moved to the Champs-Elysees and neighboring streets.

As night fell, The Eiffel Tower flashed 1998-2018 to mark France's two World Cup titles.

The Arc de Triomph was awash in the national colors, lit with the rooster, the faces of the winning team and the words "Proud to be Blue," or French.

People react on the Champs Elysees avenue with the Arc de Triomphe on background, after France defeated Croatia in the final match at the 2018 soccer World Cup, in Paris, France, Sunday, July 15, 2018. France won the final 4-2. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

The celebrations were spread across the nation.

For all the crazy antics — and some revelers who got out of control — a sense of patriotism and unity was almost visceral.

Antoine Griezmann, the France striker who scored one of the goal's Sunday, told a news conference two days before the final, televised on BFM TV, that pride in country is in short supply.

A man kicks a tear gas canister thrown by riot police during clashes on the Champs Champs Elysees avenue where soccer fans were celebrating France's World Cup victory over Croatia in Paris, France , Sunday, July 15, 2018 in Paris. France won its second World Cup title by beating Croatia 4-2. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

"We say it so little ... We should be proud to be French," Griezmann said.

Mahmoud Bourassi was among those taking a longer-term view and he had some sobering thoughts about France's run to the title and the festivities it has sparked.

Bourassi runs a youth center in Bondy — Mbappe's home that was among those scarred by riots in 2005 that exposed the fissures of France that have yet to heal — and he knows the teenage star of the tournament.

A child carries a fake Word Cup on the Champs Elysees avenue after France won the World Cup final between France and Croatia, Sunday, July 15, 2018 in Paris. France won its second World Cup title by beating Croatia 4-2. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani)

"All this euphoria and effervescence, it's positive but it's emotional and ephemeral," he said ahead of France's win. Bourassi said sports is a "catalyst to bring people and nations together."

But, he added, it must be built on.

"What we're seeing is magic, exceptional. But what are we going to do with it tomorrow?"

That is a question for President Emmanuel Macron, who was in Moscow celebrating with the team on victory night, and will receive the squad more formally on Monday at the presidential Elysee Palace.

The Arc de Triomphe is illuminated with the colors of the French national flag and by fireworks set off by French soccer fans celebrating France's World Cup victory over Croatia, in Paris, France, Sunday, July 15, 2018. France won the final 4-2. The inscription in French reads : Proud to be blue (French) . (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

Revelers celebrated the moment.

"We're happy. It took 20 years ... It's the pride of the nation. It unites everyone. It federates," Frederique Pourquet said as she and her friend left the Champs-Elysees.

The win "shows that the French people are consolidated and the work of all France," said Omar Bzi.

Hajar Maghnaoui, of Asnieres, north of Paris, said "It's a way to bring the French people together, and also the world."

PARIS (AP) — Laurent Vinatier, a French political scholar serving a three-year sentence in Russia and facing new charges of espionage, has been freed in a prisoner swap with France, officials said Thursday.

French President Emmanuel Macron said on X that Vinatier is "free and back in France,” expressing “relief” and “gratitude” to diplomatic staff for their efforts to win his release.

In exchange, Russian basketball player Daniil Kasatkin, jailed in France and whose extradition was demanded by the United States, was released and returned to Russia on Thursday, Russia’s Federal Security Service, or FSB, said in a statement.

Russian state news agency Tass released what it said was FSB footage showing Vinatier in a black track suit and winter jacket being informed about his release, to which he said “Thank you” in Russian, being driven in a car and boarding a plane after Kasatkin descended from it. It wasn't immediately clear when the video was filmed.

Vinatier was arrested in Moscow in June 2024. Russian authorities accused him of failing to register as a “foreign agent” while collecting information about Russia’s “military and military-technical activities” that could be used to the detriment of national security. A court convicted him and sentenced him to a three-year prison term.

Last year, Vinatier was also charged with espionage, according to the FSB — a criminal offense punishable by between 10 and 20 years in prison in Russia.

The scholar has been pardoned by Russian President Vladimir Putin, the security agency said.

France's Foreign Ministry said that Vinatier was being welcomed at the Quai d’Orsay alongside his parents by Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot.

The ministry said that Barrot informed ambassadors of Vinatier’s release “at the moment of the president’s tweet,” during a closed-door address. Barrot would post publicly “after his meeting with Laurent Vinatier and his family," the ministry said.

Putin had promised to look into Vinatier’s case after a French journalist asked him during his annual news conference on Dec. 19 whether Vinatier’s family could hope for a presidential pardon or his release in a prisoner exchange. The Russian president said at the time that he knew “nothing” about it.

Several days later, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Russia had made “an offer to the French” about Vinatier.

Vinatier is an adviser for the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, a Switzerland-based nongovernmental organization, which said in June 2024 that it was doing “everything possible to assist” him.

The charges that he was convicted on relate to a law that requires anyone collecting information on military issues to register with authorities as a foreign agent.

Human rights activists have criticized the law and other recent legislation as part of a Kremlin crackdown on independent media and political activists intended to stifle criticism of the war in Ukraine.

In recent years, Russia has arrested a number of foreigners — mainly Americans — on various criminal charges and then released them in prisoner swaps with the United States and other Western nations.

The largest exchange since the Cold War took place in August 2024, when Moscow freed journalists Evan Gershkovich and Alsu Kurmasheva, fellow American Paul Whelan, and Russian dissidents in a multinational deal that set two dozen people free.

Kasatkin, the Russian basketball player freed in Thursday's swap, had been held since late June after his arrest at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport at the request of U.S. judicial authorities and was held in extradition custody at Fresnes prison while French courts reviewed the U.S. request.

Kasatkin’s lawyer, Frédéric Belot, told The Associated Press that the player had been detained for alleged involvement in computer fraud. Belot said that Kasatkin was accused of having acted as a negotiator for a team of hackers. According to the lawyer, Kasatkin had purchased a second-hand computer that hadn't been reset.

“We believe that this computer was used remotely by these hackers without his knowledge,” Belot said. “He is a basketball player and knows nothing about computer science. We consider him completely innocent.”

Belot, who represents both Vinatier and Kasatkin, added that the French researcher is “totally innocent of the espionage acts that were alleged against him.”

In this image, made from video provided by Russian Federal Security Service via Russia-1 TV channel on Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, Laurent Vinatier, center right, a French political scholar, serving a three-year sentence in Russia and facing new charges of espionage, is shown after being released from prison in a prisoner swap with France. (Russian Federal Security Service/Russia-1 TV channel via AP)

In this image, made from video and provided by Russian Federal Security Service via Russia-1 TV channel on Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, Daniil Kasatkin, a Russian basketball player who was jailed in France and whose extradition was demanded by the United States, is seen after being released in a prisoner swap with France that saw the release of Laurent Vinatier, a French political scholar. (Russian Federal Security Service/Russia-1 TV channel via AP)

In this image, made from video and provided by Russian Federal Security Service via Russia-1 TV channel on Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, Laurent Vinatier, a French political scholar serving a three-year sentence in Russia and facing new charges of espionage, is shown being released from prison in a prisoner swap with France. (Russian Federal Security Service/Russia-1 TV channel via AP)

FILE - French citizen Laurent Vinatier sits in a cage prior to a court session at the Zamoskvoretsky District Court in Moscow, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Pavel Bednyakov, File)