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French Foreign Legion soldiers are not fighting in Ukraine – the French Ministry of Defense made this clear. According to security experts, that wouldn’t make sense either.
France will send a total of 1,500 legionnaires to fight in Ukraine – around a hundred men are already on site. This claim has recently been shared again and again on Telegram and the short message service X. But what’s the point?
“No French soldiers in Ukraine”
Although French President Emmanuel Macron has repeatedly mentioned the deployment of French ground troops in Ukraine, according to official information, there are still no soldiers from the French army fighting there. The French Ministry of Defense confirmed this in response to a request from ARD fact finder.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces wrote that French soldiers were deployed in Estonia and Romania. French soldiers also took part in aerial missions – such as an operation called “AirShielding”. There are also soldiers from the country in Poland, Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia. The General Staff refers to one Map showing all the operations of the French armies. Accordingly, no use has been recorded in Ukraine.
The Foreign Legion is a special unit of the French army in which volunteers from different countries serve. According to security expert Stefanie Babst, she reports to the French commander in chief and ultimately the president.
Regiment stationed in French Guiana
Security expert Nico Lange classifies the information as false news. He explains that the 3rd Infantry Regiment of the Foreign Legion, which is said to be fighting in Ukraine, is stationed in French Guiana and specializes in jungle combat in various companies with different structures. Lange adds in an interview with ARD fact finder added: “Why should the French send units that specialize in jungle combat to Ukraine? It doesn’t make any sense.”
According to Lange, Ukrainians and Russians are also part of the Foreign Legion. “It is also known that there are many people who come from states of the former Soviet Union and that both Russians and Ukrainians serve in the Foreign Legion,” explains Lange. There is no information about how many Russians and Ukrainians there are currently.
The Russian Mercenary Narrative
There are certainly “foreign citizens in Ukraine who volunteered, especially at the beginning of the war,” explains Lange. However, Ukraine’s experience has been that “that doesn’t make much sense because it’s very difficult to check what the background of these people actually is – such as their level of education.” According to Lange, there are now very few of these foreign volunteers left who have been integrated and are actually fighting with the Ukrainian armed forces.
The fact that these people even exist is being used for propaganda on the Russian side. “There is of course a Russian propaganda narrative that says there are foreign mercenaries in Ukraine, because from a Russian perspective you always have to tell the story that you don’t have military difficulties against Ukraine, but against NATO and foreign mercenaries.”
More friendly to Russia Author spread thesis
In this context, security expert Lange refers to an article in the Asia Times newspaper in which the thesis of Foreign Legionnaires in Ukraine is fueled. The author named there is Stephen Bryen – according to Lange, a man known for pro-Russian articles.
In fact, at the request of several media outlets, Bryen himself referred to a report from the Russian state broadcaster Sputnik – saying that he did not know whether it was correct. The Asia Times newspaper has now placed a note on the article, saying that the article comes from Bryen’s newsletter and was changed after publication.
There is even a reference to France’s reaction – but the newspaper still maintains that French soldiers from the Foreign Legion are fighting in Ukraine. Sputnik and Pravda are now linked as sources – the latter is also known for spreading Russian propaganda. The link to Sputnik is not available in Germany.
Francophobia in the Kremlin?
From Julia 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. Smirnova is a senior researcher at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue Germany (ISD). She told that ARD fact finder most recently: “In the last few 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.”
The EU observatory against disinformation “EU vs Disinfo” has been monitoring a targeted campaign by Russia against France for some time. That’s what it says in one Text from the beginning of April: “In recent weeks and months we have observed an ongoing disinformation campaign directed against France and the presidential family.”
Along with President Macron’s statement that military support for Ukraine should not be ruled out, the Kremlin has launched “a more aggressive campaign to undermine the French authorities.” Among other things, disinformation about the Alleged massive online recruitment of soldiers by France spread – just like the narrative according to which France is supposedly already on the impending partition of Ukraine involved.
Foreign soldiers in Ukraine are a recurring topic
At the beginning of the year, speculation about soldiers from Western countries on Ukrainian soil had been a recurring topic. At the end of February, Chancellor Olaf Scholz justified his rejection of the delivery of “Taurus” cruise missiles to Ukraine to journalists by saying, among other things, that Germany would not participate in targeting with soldiers – neither from Germany nor on site.
Scholz had added: “What the British and French are doing in terms of target control and support for target control cannot be done in Germany.” This was perceived by some observers as Scholz’s confirmation of the presence of Western soldiers in Ukraine.
British Prime Minister Richi Sunak then said that Britain has “a small number of forces that we have in the country to support Ukrainian forces” but has “no plans for a large-scale military operation.” Britain has limited staff in the country “to ensure the security of our diplomatic presence and to support the Ukrainian armed forces, including through medical training.”
In connection with the so-called Taurus wiretapping affair, the Kremlin also accused the West of direct involvement in the war in Ukraine. Experts such as Rafael Loss, Policy Fellow at the European Council on Foreign Affairs (ECFR), explained in this context that involvement in the war cannot be derived from activities in Ukraine alone. It depends on “what specific tasks these people are entrusted with.”