THE FRENCH AMBASSADOR has warned that his Government has uncovered significant Russian disinformation operations in his country and that it cannot be “excluded” that similar operations are underway in Ireland ahead of the upcoming elections.
Speaking to The Journal, Vincent Guérend said that Russia is seeking to destabilise Europe and is using disinformation to achieve that.
He confirmed that there is “ongoing cooperation” between the French and Irish law enforcement.
Guerend referenced the discovery in November by French security services that Russian agents were involved in the daubing Star of David graffiti across Paris.
This, he said, was done to sow discontent in France which has the largest Muslim and Jewish populations in Europe.
This week the French Government released a report on Portal Kombat – a network using 193 websites designed to disseminate Russian contrived disinformation across Europe.
Guerend said that the evidence is there that the sophisticated Russian operation was disseminating “false news” that “looked quite real”.
He warned that this operation was a risk ahead ahead of the European Parliament elections in June when citizens will go to the polls to elect 720 MEPs in June.
He explained that the disinformation focused on saying that Ukraine would not be able to resist, that Europe had lost support for funding its defence and that public opinion “was just completely exhausted”.
Guerend said that French security services had used “forensic methods” to examine the evidence and while it is “not new” to suggest that Russia carries out such operations he added that there was now incontrovertible proof.
Guerend said: “I don’t have evidence that it’s taking place in Ireland, but I should say not to rule it out, given the fact that the objective is to destabilise our public opinion to instigate doubt and hesitation, and then just to completely blur all the lines of what is true and untrue.”
Guerend said that the problem of disinformation has been identified by the French Government as a significant threat to its interests and to the political system across Europe.
The ambassador, who last spoke to this website shortly before the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, said that the key objective for his country was to continue to support Ukrainian defenders.
Russia, he said, was fighting the war both on the battlefield and online. He said the disinformation efforts were focused particularly on France, Germany and Poland but that they have also spread wider across the European continent.
The French Government have now set up a task force to manage and contain the problem with a particular focus on countering the narrative around the disinformation.
He had particular warning for the elections coming not just in Ireland but also across the EU as well as in the US and Britain. Guerend said that the “risk was greater” due to the European elections.
Guerend also said that the investigation showed that the focus of the disinformation in France had shifted slightly to events in Gaza and Israel – he believes this is because of the large Jewish population in the country.
“We ought to raise our stakes and raise awareness to push back and disclose it and not be fooled by this,” he added.
“The French police have found, over a period of months that the painting of the Jewish Star of David was the work of Russian agents.
“There is a kind of polarisation in France between the Jewish and Muslim communities. I don’t say that doesn’t exist, but it has been amplified and fueled by [Russian] agents. So it’s very, very concerning,” he added.
While Ireland is confronting a rise in activity of far-right, anti-migrant political activists, France has had a long history of such groups.
The groups range from the National Rally party of Marine Le Pen, to disparate movements such as the Gillet Jaune and anti-migrant groups.
Guerend said that France had noticed an increase in the success of far-right candidates in European Parliament elections over the last two decades, particularly in the 2019 elections.
He said that this was a “concern” and added that it was a problem for Europe given that the far-right generally are anti-European integration.
He said that much of the far-right political discourse in France had existed well before social media but the platforms had helped to amplify it in recent years.
The ambassador stressed that the key threat from the far-right was their European Union scepticism and their isolationist ideal of countries going it alone.
Guérend has worked extensively in French diplomatic postings including as Chief of Staff of the Secretary of State for European Affairs.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say