Almost two years since the war raged in Ukraine. But Russia is not only leading the fight militarily, and regularly attempts to destabilize kyiv’s supporters by making assertions that are quickly contradicted. The latest: the presence of French mercenaries on Ukrainian soil. A look back at this latest informational war effort led by Moscow against Paris.
Russian claims
Stupor and tremors after Russia’s announcement. Moscow claimed responsibility on Wednesday for a strike carried out the previous evening on a building in which “French mercenaries” were deployed in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second city, where local authorities reported 17 civilians injured.
The Russian Defense Ministry claimed more than 60 deaths and 20 injuries in the strike which “completely destroyed the building where the mercenaries were stationed”. The Kharkiv authorities reported on Tuesday evening a Russian strike using two S-300 surface-to-air missiles on this northeastern city, close to the Russian border. This bombing, according to them, damaged apartment buildings and injured at least 17 civilians, including two women who are in serious condition.
Denial from Paris
France “does not have “mercenaries” in Ukraine, or elsewhere, unlike others. This is another crude Russian manipulation. We must not give it more importance than the previous ones and the following ones which are sure to arrive,” the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded on Thursday.
Russia “While the Russian Ministry of Defense claims to have killed “French mercenaries”, they in reality hit energy and medical infrastructures”, reacted immediately the NGO All Eyes on Wagner on the social network X (formerly Twitter).
Informational attack
These Russian accusations came after the announcement by President Emmanuel Macron of the upcoming delivery to kyiv of 40 additional long-range Scalp missiles and the signing of a security agreement with Ukraine. Ukraine’s allies have also launched an “artillery” coalition in Paris to respond to kyiv’s pressing weapons needs. It is “a gross misinformation, no French person has been killed for months”, analyzes Colonel Michel Goya, former officer of the marine troops, questioned by The Parisian.
For a senior French officer, the tempo of the accusations responds precisely to the French announcements. “Russia uses the information field to respond to the political field,” he explains to AFP on condition of anonymity. “This is part of their narrative, structured around a NATO war against Russia and the plot against Moscow to prevent it from being a power,” he adds.
According to him, the Russian accusations are primarily aimed at the Russian population, “to confirm that its leaders are fighting courageously against a bloc of countries.” They also maintain “a sort of vagueness for those who think, in Western countries, that Russia is in the right”.