Russian MPs denounce the alleged presence of French “mercenaries” in Ukraine
Russian deputies voted on Wednesday for a resolution denouncing the alleged presence of “mercenaries” French fighting for kyiv in Ukraine, an accusation denied by Paris, which sees it as a new disinformation campaign by the Kremlin.
“It is regrettable that the French authorities, who were once with our country at the initiative of politico-military détente in Europe, are prolonging with their actions the agony of the Nazi regime in kyiv”is written in this resolution addressed to the French National Assembly and published on the website of the Duma, the lower house of the Russian Parliament.
On January 17, the Russian army claimed to have destroyed a building in Kharkiv, northeastern Ukraine, where “mercenaries, most of whom were French citizens”. Sixty fighters were “eliminated” and twenty injured, Moscow assured.
A pro-Russian French association, SOS Donbass, then released on Monday a list of names of thirteen “French mercenaries” present in Kharkiv at the time of the strike. Another list of thirty names is circulating on Telegram.
As soon as the Russian army announced, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs denied and denounced “a new crude Russian manipulation”ensuring that France did not have “mercenaries”, neither in Ukraine nor elsewhere”.
In return, on Friday, the French ambassador in Moscow was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry to be reprimanded “the growing involvement of Paris in the conflict in Ukraine”.
These accusations of “mercenarism” targeting France come as Paris has increased its promises of arms deliveries to Ukraine in recent weeks and is preparing to conclude a security agreement with kyiv.
Some of the identities put forward on these lists are also false, according to a French diplomatic source. And doubt remains over the very fact that French people died in this Russian strike.
From the first months, the conflict in Ukraine attracted foreign volunteers who went to fight alongside kyiv soldiers. At the end of December 2023, a security source estimated “a few dozen, less than 50” the number of French fighters in Ukraine, “all of the extreme right or ultra-right”.