Moscow accuses French presidential candidates of groundlessly inflating the ‘Russian threat’. France, for its part, states that a series of destabilisation operations attributed to pro‑Russian networks have been directed against several presidential candidates in recent months.
Russian diplomacy on Tuesday, August 25, accused French presidential candidates in 2022 of inflating the ‘Russian threat’ for the election campaign, rejecting the accusations of interference made by the French authorities. According to Paris, these operations appear to have had a minor impact on the scale of content dissemination on social networks.
Accusations of interference and disinformation
Spokesperson for Russian diplomacy Maria Zakharova stated that Russia “firmly rejects these baseless and unsubstantiated accusations”. She added that these accusations “do not surprise us in the least”. Zakharova continued: “We see that for many candidates, the presidential race includes loud statements about combating the Russian threat and supporting the Kyiv regime as a mandatory element of the programme”.
The French agency Viginum, responsible for combating foreign digital interference, reported last week on new operations linked to pro‑Russian networks targeting candidate and former Prime Minister Gabriel Attal. Since the beginning of August, at least four disinformation operations have been directed against this Renaissance party candidate, who has already filed a complaint.
These information operations are attributed to a pro‑Russian scheme called “Matryoshka”, active since 2023. It relies on the publication of fake content that is coordinated and amplified on social networks. Other possible targets include candidates Raphael Glucksmann and former Prime Minister Edouard Philippe.
All three — Gabriel Attal, Raphael Glucksmann, and Edouard Philippe — have expressed their support for Ukraine amid the large‑scale Russian offensive launched in 2022, like most French political figures.
Source: Le Figaro
