Three men have been arrested for placing five coffins – draped in the French flag and with the inscription "Ukraine's French soldiers" – near the Eiffel Tower.
Russia is believed to be behind it, according to French intelligence, reports BBC.
The three men were seen arriving at the scene on Saturday morning. In the coffins they left behind were bags of gypsum.
The driver, a Bulgarian citizen, was quickly arrested and claimed that he was offered 40 euros, roughly 450 kronor, by the other two to transport the coffins. He himself had come to Paris from Bulgaria the day before.
The other two – a Ukrainian and a German – were arrested when they were on their way to take a bus to Berlin. They claimed in turn that they had received 400 euros to leave the coffins.
They are now expected to be charged with "premeditated violence" and officials say that they are investigating whether "this was organized from abroad".
According to the prosecutor, one of the men is also suspected of involvement in an incident in Paris last month when a monument to the victims of the Holocaust was vandalized with painted red hands, writes the news agency AFP.
A similar incident occurred in the fall, not long after the terrorist group Hamas carried out its attack on Israel, when David's stars were sprayed on building facades in various parts of Paris.
A Moldovan couple was arrested at the time, according to French intelligence, which believes they acted on behalf of Russia.
A photographer's pictures of both the red hands and the David's stars later turned up on websites linked to Russian propaganda. The events seemed intended to manipulate public opinion in France.
The Kremlin reacted aggressively when French President Emmanuel Macron said in May that he did not rule out the possibility of sending soldiers to Ukraine.
