Paris accuses Russia of waging disinformation campaign against France
Paris has accused Russia of deliberately spreading false information about France in the context of the war Moscow has waged against Ukraine. The French Defense Ministry pointed to a “coordinated Russian effort” involving state media outlets such as Sputnik News, RT, and RIA Novosti.
France has been the "target of a Russian disinformation campaign" since Russian forces invaded the neighboring country in February 2022, Paris indicated. According to French officials, this campaign escalated from mid-January when President Emmanuel Macron warned of the threat posed by a potential Russian victory on the front line and announced new military aid for Ukraine.
On January 17, the Russian Ministry of Defence reported a strike by Russian forces on a temporary military deployment site in Kharkiv, which was said to be composed mostly of "French mercenaries" fighting alongside Kyiv. Paris categorically rejected these claims, denouncing the statements about French mercenaries in Ukraine as "crude manipulation".
A few days later, a list of presumably killed mercenaries was published across various Russian Telegram channels. However, AFP notes that some of these lists with the names of presumed French individuals have been circulating since 2022. Moreover, on January 24, the Russian defence ministry claimed for the first time to have destroyed a French-made SAMP-T anti-aircraft missile system, without offering any evidence.
In light of the escalation in military support for Ukraine, France anticipates further "manipulations" from Russia, French Armed Forces Minister Sébastien Lecornu