French authorities have foiled several plots to disrupt the 2024 Olympics, including the arrest of a Russian chef involved in one of them, officials have said.

These developments come just days before the opening ceremony of the Summer Games in Paris.

France has been on high alert over the past few weeks as preparations to host the Olympics hit the final stretch. The Games officially kick off with a lavish and high-security opening ceremony on the River Seine on Friday, local time.

Paris prosecutors said on Wednesday they had arrested a 40-year-old Russian man on Tuesday at his Paris apartment on suspicion of planning to "destabilise the Olympic Games".

He was charged with "conducting intelligence work on behest of a foreign power" with an aim to "provoke hostilities in France," crimes punishable with a 30-year sentence in France, according to a statement from the Paris prosecutor's office.

During an official search of the suspect's home in Paris, police agents found items that "raised fears of his intention to organise events likely to lead to destabilisation of the Olympic Games," prosecutors said.

Le Monde reported the suspect, known as K, was part of several reality TV cooking shows and worked at Michelin star restaurants and an alpine ski resort. 

The report also alleged, after having too much to drink and being refused to board a flight, the chef was overheard on a phone saying: "the French are going to have an opening ceremony like there has never been before." 

The Russian embassy in Paris said it had not received any notification from French authorities about the arrest and has asked French officials for an explanation after seeing reports about it. It did not comment further.

Security Challenges

The Games' organisers are facing other security challenges, including cyber attack concerns, amid high international tensions because of the Russia's war in Ukraine and the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza.

There are also elaborate disinformation campaigns orchestrated out of Russia, targeting the Olympics and France's recent elections, according to French officials and cybersecurity experts in Europe and the United States.

"We have a list of threats on which we are particularly focused, including the cyberthreat," Sonia Fibleuil, a National Police spokesperson, told The Associated Press.

Such threats "can consist of fake news and disinformation or online campaigns to amplify a piece of news with bots and mass circulate it," Ms Fibleuil said.

In an example this week, French intelligence found that a video on social media supposedly showing a Hamas threat against the Olympics was fake, generated by AI and appeared to have links to Russia, according to a French security official. 

The official was not authorised to be publicly named discussing intelligence matters.