Foreign Minister meeting
Joint fight against Russian disinformation
Meeting in La Celle Saint-Cloud: Annalena Baerbock and her counterparts from France, Stephane Sejourne (M), and Poland, Radoslaw Sikorski. photo
© Sarah Meyssonnier/RTR POOL/AP/dpa
Germany, France and Poland are equally affected by Russian troll campaigns and cyber attacks. Together, the three countries are now declaring war on Moscow.
Germany, France and Poland want to take joint action against Russian disinformation and cyberattacks. A joint warning mechanism between the three countries against Russian troll attacks has been agreed, said France’s Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné in La Celle-Saint-Cloud near Paris after a meeting with Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and his Polish colleague Radoslaw Sikorski.
The three countries had fallen victim to the same Russian destabilization strategy and wanted to defend themselves together. In particular, the European elections and the Olympic Games in Paris are possible next targets of such attacks.
“Russia is trying to destroy European unity,” said Séjourné after the meeting of the so-called Weimar Triangle. Almost 200 fake news sites were discovered. These instruments of disinformation should be disclosed transparently in the future. “We are ready to act to defend our democracy.”
The Weimar Triangle was founded in 1991 as a discussion format by the then foreign ministers of the three countries in Weimar. One goal of Monday’s meeting was also to boost foreign policy cooperation between France and Germany with the new pro-European government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
“We are meeting at a dramatic moment, because we have war again in Europe, we again have a dictator who has given himself the right to decide who can be a people and who cannot,” said Poland’s Foreign Minister Sikorski. Russian President Vladimir Putin is trying to use lies and demagoguery to subjugate Ukraine and destroy the EU and NATO. “We cannot allow Putin to win this war,” Sikorski said. “We must fulfill our obligations to Ukraine.”
Baerbock is in favor of a defense union
The three-way meeting also focused on strengthening the defense and security architecture in Europe, also in view of a possible election victory for Donald Trump in the USA. Not only do 27 different national systems in the EU need to be better interlinked, said Baerbock. In the future, joint procurement and joint projects in defense must be initiated and operational capabilities must be pooled more closely than before, she added against the background of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.
“If Putin believes that our strength is dwindling and our support is waning, he is completely mistaken,” emphasized Baerbock. The Europeans have been standing by Ukraine for two years and will continue to do so for as long as necessary. The question of how support for Ukraine can become even more effective also depends on how closely France, Poland and Germany act together militarily in the next few months and, if necessary, in the next few years.