Le gouvernement français a tenu à réfuter les affirmations de Sergueï Narychkine, chef des renseignements extérieurs russes, qui avait évoqué l’envoi prochain de 2 000 soldats français en Ukraine.
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NewsTranscript
00:00 The French government has refused to refute the statements of Sergei Naryshkin, head of
00:04 Russian foreign intelligence, who had mentioned the incoming sending of 2,000 French soldiers
00:08 to Ukraine.
00:09 A typical example of coarse misinformation?
00:12 Maybe, but that doesn't mean that the infox is necessarily ineffective.
00:17 The official denial fell at the speed of the tweet.
00:20 The information relayed by Sergei Naryshkin, director of Russian foreign intelligence,
00:26 is a result of a systematic use of the misinformation of masses widely used by
00:30 Russia, assured the French Ministry of the Army, Tuesday, March 19 on the social network
00:35 X.
00:36 A few hours earlier, a quick task, the Russian official press agency, claimed that
00:41 Russian intelligence services knew reliable sources that Paris was about to send
00:45 2,000 French soldiers to the Ukrainian front.
00:47 Sergei Naryshkin, a propagandist like another?
00:51 If the French Ministry of the Army is in a hurry to counter what it considers
00:55 to be propaganda, it is that these allegations come at a sensitive time.
00:59 At the end of February, French President Emmanuel Macron indeed refused to exclude any
01:04 troops on the ground in the context of the war in Ukraine.
01:07 An exit that had taken the allies of France by surprise, starting with neighboring Germany.
01:12 The owner of the Elysée, however, returned to the charge on Saturday, March 16, affirming
01:17 to the Parisian newspaper that "operations on the ground could become necessary to
01:21 counter the Russian forces.
01:22 The alleged revelations about the sending of 2,000 French soldiers to Ukraine thus come
01:27 to try to pour oil on the fire triggered by the new Macronian rhetoric.
01:31 The announcement does not emanate from the first propagandist to come.
01:34 "Sergei Naryshkin is not in the first circle of the Kremlin but is quite high in
01:39 the food chain and is not someone who usually puts himself forward," emphasizes
01:43 Stephen Hutching, a specialist in propaganda and Russian disinformation at the University
01:47 of Manchester.
01:49 In the past, Sergei Naryshkin had had an analysis of the situation in Ukraine, a note
01:54 from the editorial more lucid than some of his peers.
01:56 He had even shown himself unfavourable at the launch of the "Special Operation
02:01 Official Terminology in Russia to designate the large military offensive triggered on
02:04 February 24, 2022, "notes from the editorial, notes Dmitry Minik, researcher at the Russian
02:10 Orasy Center of the French Institute of International Relations (IFRI)
02:14 and doubts that he had earned from being publicly humiliated by Vladimir Putin just before the
02:18 launch of the hostilities.
02:20 Despite his past reservations, he has always had a vision of the world similar to Vladimir
02:25 Putin and other Sylovikis and members of the Russian security services, notes from the
02:29 editorial at a high level, "Dimitry Minik.
02:32 But for the researcher, the simple fact that the effort of propaganda is also openly
02:36 and publicly carried out by one of the main heads of the Russian intelligence services
02:40 is out of the ordinary and recalls the statements of Naryshkin in April 2022 on the alleged
02:44 Polish plan aimed at seizing his former possessions in Ukraine.
02:47 Usually, like the fake news operations of Opel Ganjé or the activism of Russian trolls,
02:54 these campaigns are more insidious.
02:55 Like the Americans.
02:58 The alleged revelations of Sergei Naryshkin make one think of the way in which the Americans
03:02 or the British had revealed information data to create a dilemma in the Russian camp
03:06 and dissuade Moscow from attacking, "emphasizes Dmitry Minik.
03:10 This strategy of revealing to the public some secrets about the movements of Russian troops
03:15 in the hope of dissuading Moscow from taking action had then been one of the main weapons
03:19 of Western intelligence at the beginning of the conflict.
03:21 It is clear that in this case, in the face of France, Russia is imitating the techniques
03:26 of Western intelligence which, in his eyes, have worked well, confirms Stephen Hutching.
03:31 For this specialist, it is also a trend that is becoming more and more apparent on the Russian side.
03:36 Early March, Moscow had thus made public a discussion between the ranks of the German
03:41 army that the Russian spies had intercepted.
03:43 With the statements of Sergei Naryshkin, Moscow pushes this plug even further.
03:48 It is no longer just about providing intelligence material to the media and hiding behind
03:54 its relays, but about openly embodying and assuming statements to the highest levels
03:58 of intelligence.
03:59 This is what looks more like what the Americans did before the invasion in Ukraine, even
04:04 if this attempt at imitation, as often in Russian strategy, is wrong and not very subtle,
04:10 says Dmitry Minik.
04:11 Convince the Russians above all.
04:13 What to discredit all this new effort of misinformation about France?
04:18 Not necessarily.
04:20 The idea is also to create a narrative for the Russian public that would make France
04:24 the head of the anti-Russian effort of NATO in Ukraine.
04:27 This is not the first time that a Russian officer seeks to exploit Emmanuel Macron's refusal
04:31 to exclude the possibility of sending troops.
04:34 Piotr Tolstoy, the grandson of the famous writer and current vice-president of Duma,
04:39 thus took off his hat on March 17 on BFM TV and the French idea of sending the
04:43 foreign legion to Odessa.
04:45 He even specified that the troops from France would be priority targets.
04:49 The goal is thus to add elements to the narrative that currently dominates the debates
04:54 currently in Russia and according to which it is not a war against Ukraine, but a
04:57 defense against NATO countries, emphasizes Stephen Hutching.
05:01 For him, if the Russian public is the main target of this effort of misinformation, Moscow
05:07 can also hope to create a breach in the unity of the Western camp.
05:10 The idea is to sow the seed of doubt, notes Stephen Hutching.
05:14 If the heads of another country begin to wonder if France is not hiding something from them,
05:20 it is already a victory for Moscow.
05:21 And it is all the more important to try to discredit France which intends to place itself
05:26 at the forefront of the countries that support Ukraine and seek to contain the hostile actions
05:30 of Russia, emphasizes Dmitry Minik.
05:33 For him, Sergei Naryshkin's statements illustrate a psychological-informational war that
05:38 risks intensifying against France.