France warns of Russian disinformation blitz targeting Europe

By Global Watch and AFP | 2025-05-15

PARIS -- France has become the latest European country to sound the alarm over an intensifying wave of Russian disinformation campaigns aimed at destabilizing democracies on the continent and undermining support for Ukraine.

French authorities on May 7 revealed that they have tracked almost 80 Russian-led influence operations between August 2023 and early March 2025, targeting Ukraine, France and other European allies.

The campaign was "particularly... effective in distributing anti-Ukrainian and anti-Western narratives to Western audiences," the French agency countering foreign online attacks, Viginum, said.

The so-called Storm-1516 campaign uses artificial intelligence (AI) to create realistic profiles, pays amateur operators and poses a "significant threat to the digital public debate, both in France and across all European countries," Viginum said.

"The European public debate is being pounded by disinformation campaigns conducted by Russian entities and relayed especially by the American far-right," French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told AFP, adding that Russian entities had targeted the 2024 French legislative elections.

Broader Russian strategy

Storm-1516 was part of an "information war" by the Kremlin, a diplomatic source told AFP.

The Viginum report highlighted the role of American far-right influencers or pro-Russian influencers like Adrien Bocquet, a "former French soldier exiled in Russia," who amplify the dissemination of false information.

AFP's digital investigative team has collected and debunked some of the false information -- such as the alleged purchase by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of a former Nazi building in Germany or a luxury hotel in Courchevel.

Ukraine's Western allies, particularly France, also are targeted, Viginum said.

The disinformation-fighting organization NewsGuard previously attributed to Storm-1516 a fraudulent video supposedly showing a Chadian migrant confessing to raping a 12-year-old girl in France. Another, AI-generated video falsely accused Brigitte Macron, the wife of President Emmanuel Macron, of sexual assault.

In 'Moscow's crosshairs'

The campaign reflects a broader Russian strategy of exploiting societal divisions within NATO countries.

The Kremlin recently has ramped up its hybrid warfare tactics against Italy, deploying a mix of disinformation campaigns, cyberattacks and diplomatic hostilities in an effort to weaken Rome's pro-Ukraine stance and sow discord within its Euro-Atlantic alliances.

Despite not being Ukraine's top military or financial supporter, Italy has emerged as a target because of the outspoken backing of Kyiv by President Sergio Mattarella and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, whose firm alignment with NATO sets her apart from many other right-wing European leaders.

Italy's "steadfast support for Ukraine and its alignment with NATO and the transatlantic relationship has placed the country in "Moscow's crosshairs," Emanuele Rossi, a senior analyst specializing in international politics, wrote in a March 5 article for the Center for European Policy Analysis, a Washington-based think tank.

Russia's efforts to destabilize Italy include diplomatic provocations, state-backed propaganda campaigns and alleged cyberattacks, underscoring the Kremlin’s broader strategy of undermining European unity in the face of its war against Ukraine, Rossi added.