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Russia has been trying to destabilize European countries for years – with the help of media networks, fake accounts and orchestrated campaigns. Observers fear that this could increase again during the European elections.
“Is Macron being blackmailed?” A pro-Russian Telegram channel asked this question in mid-March this year. The background: French President Emmanuel Macron has a dark secret – or rather his wife Brigitte. In truth, she is not a woman at all, but a man. After the real Brigitte died as a child, her brother Jean-Michel took over her role and lived as a trans woman under her name. These and similar ones Conspiracy stories surrounding Brigitte Macron have been circulating for years, but have been booming again in recent weeks.
And there is a reason for this: France is currently increasingly in the focus of Russian disinformation. Because President Emmanuel Macron has toughened his tone towards Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin. For example, in a speech in February, he no longer ruled out the use of French ground troops in Ukraine. Since then, the French government has faced various campaigns.
Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu also suggested that the French secret services were involved in the terrorist attack near Moscow at the end of March. The French government also announced that the employment office had been the target of a cyber attack of “unprecedented intensity.”
A AI-generated video from a French broadcaster also made the rounds by reporting on an alleged murder plot by Ukraine against Macron. Even if the authors of such campaigns are difficult to identify, Russian state media and pro-Russian channels are always multipliers of this content.
“Polarizing issues are being amplified”
“The main goal of Russian influence campaigns is to undermine support for Ukraine in Western countries,” says Julia Smirnova, senior researcher at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue Germany (ISD). “To achieve this, polarizing issues are amplified in the respective countries in order to destabilize democracies.”
A few weeks ago, the French government announced that the French “bed bug panic” had been fomented by Russia last year. Accounts linked to Russia have exaggerated the issue. They falsely drew a connection between the arrival of Ukrainian refugees and the spread of bed bugs.
Also with a view to the war in the Middle East, the French government observed attempts by Russia to cause unrest in France – a couple from the Republic of Moldova were arrested Stars of David on more than 150 facades in Paris had sprayed. According to the couple, they received the order from a Russian-speaking man.
Not only in France, but also in other countries, Russia is trying to jump on popular topics to spread disinformation. One Cardiff University research According to this, Russian disinformation networks also played a role in the spread of conspiracy stories surrounding the British Princess Kate. Accordingly, there were systematic attempts to further increase the wave of rumors in order to cause confusion. The accounts involved also spread content that was directed against France’s support for Ukraine.
Russian networks built over years
In order to run such targeted campaigns, Russia has built up various networks over the years in order to reach as many people as possible. Some of them have already been exposed in the past, most recently the multilingual online medium “Voice of Europe”. The portal registered in the Czech Republic was a pro-Russian propaganda medium that, according to the Czech government, was operated by, among others, the oligarch Viktor Medvedchuk, a confidant of Putin.
In addition to spreading Russian narratives, according to media reports, “Voice of Europe” was also used to pay European politicians, including AfD Europe’s top candidate Maximilian Krah and AfD politician Petr Bystron, who was in second place on the list.
“The reach of ‘Voice of Europe’ and its social media channels was limited,” says Smirnova. Nevertheless, the channel at X, for example, has more than 180,000 followers. “What’s special about this portal is, above all, the financial support of right-wing extremist and right-wing radical forces.”
This is at least not known from other Russian networks. In March, cybersecurity experts from France uncovered the pro-Russian network “Portal Kombat”. The network, which consists of a total of 193 websites, was based in Moscow and spread pro-Russian content, among other things, via the news portal “Pravda”, which also had a branch in German.
In one Communication from the French government It is said that the network did not produce its own content, but mainly relied on pro-Russian accounts on social networks and Russian press agencies. The network would select content based on destination, massively automate content distribution, and optimize content for search engines.
Alleged journalists as sources
From Smirnova’s point of view, the fact that the various pro-Russian channels use each other as sources for content is part of the strategy. “In recent months it has happened more often that alleged investigative journalists have written about supposedly explosive research on social networks and this has then been picked up by pro-Russian websites and channels.”
False claims circulated that the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, had bought luxury yachts. A supposed journalist was named as the alleged source, but apart from this article about Zelensky, nothing can be found about him, as “Correctiv” reports. Nevertheless, pro-Russian channels picked up the story and spread it.
Campaigns for the European elections feared
Had in Germany Research by “t-online” A Russian “doppelganger” network has been uncovered that, among other things, uses bots in social networks to try to manipulate political discourse. In addition, according to the report, the falsification of German news sites was widely used to spread pro-Russian disinformation.
This year, the Foreign Office also reported on a Russian disinformation campaign on the online platform X with the aim of increasing discontent against the traffic light government and undermining support for Ukraine. According to this, experts have identified more than 50,000 fake user accounts that spread German-language content.
“In the last few weeks we have seen that new tactics are being tried out again and again, including with the help of artificial intelligence,” says Smirnova. She fears that the Russian campaigns will be intensified again with a view to the upcoming European elections in June. Russia has been building up the infrastructure and know-how for this for years.