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🇰🇷 South Korea /Elections & Politics

Russian disinformation campaigns target French politicians ahead of election

From Hankyoreh · () Korean

Translated from Korean, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources Context piece
  • France is experiencing a surge in Russian-linked disinformation campaigns targeting political figures ahead of next year's presidential election.
  • Prominent politicians like Raphaël Glucksmann, Édouard Philippe, and Gabriel Attal have been targeted with fabricated videos and news stories, often using AI-generated content.
  • Security authorities have identified Russian intelligence groups, specifically "Storm-1516 Group" and "Matryoshka," as being behind these operations, which aim to undermine pro-Ukraine politicians while sparing pro-Russia far-right parties.

France is grappling with a wave of sophisticated disinformation campaigns originating from Russia, aimed at disrupting the upcoming presidential election. Social media platforms are being flooded with fabricated content, including AI-generated audio and deepfake images, designed to smear key political figures who have been critical of Vladimir Putin's regime and supportive of Ukraine.

European Parliament member Raphaël Glucksmann, former Prime Ministers Édouard Philippe and Gabriel Attal, and others have become targets. Glucksmann was subjected to a fabricated video alleging his partner offered a bribe to a newspaper for favorable coverage. Attal faced false claims about Parkinson's disease symptoms and fabricated stories about his father's alleged drug empire. Philippe was targeted with rumors of frontotemporal dementia.

The Russian regime is spreading complete lies to tarnish me.

— Raphaël GlucksmannEuropean Parliament member Raphaël Glucksmann expressed outrage over fabricated videos targeting him, attributing them to Russian state-sponsored disinformation efforts.

French security authorities have identified Russian intelligence groups, notably the "Storm-1516 Group" and "Matryoshka," as the orchestrators. These groups create fake news articles, mimic media outlet designs, and use fake websites to spread their narratives. The "Storm-1516 Group," linked to Russia's GRU military intelligence, has reportedly created over 140 fake French news websites. The operations often involve using bot accounts and paying influencers to amplify the disinformation.

Notably, these campaigns appear to deliberately avoid targeting far-right parties in France, which have historically maintained closer ties with Russia. This selective targeting suggests a strategy to weaken pro-European Union and pro-Ukraine politicians while leaving Russia-friendly factions untouched. The disinformation efforts began after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, initially focusing on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, but have since shifted focus to Western European leaders.

If you give in to a tyrant, you don't get peace, you just feed his appetite and hasten the next invasion.

— Raphaël GlucksmannGlucksmann's strong stance against appeasement towards Putin was highlighted, contrasting with the targets of Russian disinformation campaigns.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Hankyoreh in Korean. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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