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The French government has accused Russia of disinformation amid allegations from Russian intelligence agencies that France was preparing to deploy 2,000 troops to Ukraine.
The suggestions arose during an interview between the head of the Russian Foreign Intelligence, Service Sergey Naryshkin, and state news outlet TASS, deepening already tense relations between the two countries.
“The contingent for sending to Ukraine is already being prepared. At the initial stage, it will amount to about 2,000 people,” the spy chief alleged.
The remarks were met with fierce resistance from France’s defence ministry, accusing Russia of sparking worsening tensions between the two countries.
“The manoeuvre orchestrated by Sergei Naryshkin, Director of Russian Foreign Intelligence, once again illustrates Russia’s systematic use of disinformation,” the defence ministry outlined, as originally reported in Reuters.
“We consider this type of provocation irresponsible.”
France has committed €3 billion of aid to Ukraine over 2024. This is in addition to the € 2.615 billion of military aid delivered to Ukraine since the war and €1.2 billion for the European Peace Facility.
According to Naryshkin’s interview with TASS, French soldiers were dying in such great numbers that public knowledge of Paris’ involvement in the war would threaten French public stability.
“As they say in the Elysee Palace, the number of French dead ’has already exceeded a psychologically significant threshold’. The release of such sensitive data can provoke citizens to protest, especially against the background of mass anti-government protests by farmers across the country,” the spy chief outlined.
The remarks have already been picked up and syndicated through Russian affiliated Telegram channels and social media outlets.
The debate erupted as General Pierre Schill, chief of the French Army Staff, penned an opinion piece for Le Monde, titled, The French Army is ready, observing the changing character of war.
“As the chief of the Army Staff, my aim is for the power demonstrated by our forces to influence trends, to help resolve conflicts and create solidarity, and to deter attacks against France, its people, territory and interests,” he wrote.
In the piece, General Schill reflected that despite the best efforts to move beyond warfare following decades of peace, “the conflicts taking hold at the edges of our continent bear witness not so much to the return of war as to its permanence as an accepted mode of conflict resolution”.
Liam Garman is the editor of leading Australian security and defence publications Cyber Daily and Defence Connect.
Liam began his career as a speech writer at New South Wales Parliament before working for world leading campaigns and research agencies in Sydney and Auckland. Throughout his career, Liam has managed and executed a range of international media and communications campaigns spanning politics, business, industrial relations and infrastructure. He’s since shifted his attention to researching and writing extensively on geopolitics and defence, specifically in North Africa, the Middle East and Asia. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Sydney and a Masters of Strategy and Security from UNSW Canberra, with a thesis on postmodernism and disinformation operations.
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