The theory of Russian interference seems to be becoming clearer. France on Thursday condemned "firmly" the role of a Russian network in "the artificial amplification and the primo-dissemination on social networks of photos of tags representing Stars of David" in Paris, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The statement accuses the Russian network Recent Reliable News (RRN) and considers that "this new Russian digital interference operation against France testifies to the persistence of an opportunistic and irresponsible strategy aimed at exploiting international crises to sow confusion and create tensions".
#Russie | On the basis of @Viginum_Gouv's investigations, the France strongly condemns the involvement of the Russian network Recent Reliable News (#RRN/#Doppelgänger) in the artificial amplification and initial dissemination on social networks of photos of the Star of David tags in the Russian Federation. pic.twitter.com/pEKI94jpyn
— France Diplomatie🇫🇷🇪🇺 (@francediplo) November 9, 2023
Several dozen blue stencilled Stars of David were discovered on October 31, on the facades of buildings in the <>th arrondissement of Paris and in other places in Paris and its suburbs. An investigating judge was appointed on Tuesday to identify the authors of the tags and understand their intentions, the possibility of an order from abroad being "not excluded" at this stage, according to a statement from the French judiciary, which considered that this marking could have "been carried out at the express request of a person living abroad".
The man and woman suspected of the tags left France on October 31 afternoon, according to the prosecutor's office. The investigations nevertheless made it possible to compare these facts with another investigation, relating to acts committed four days earlier: on 27 October, a man and a woman born in Moldova were arrested in the <>th arrondissement of Paris.
Detection of a network of 1,095 bots
A local resident had seen them snil a blue star, which was erased the same day. They said they had acted on the orders of a third party and in return for payment, which was evidenced by a conversation in Russian on their phone, according to the French courts. "As far as the facts themselves are concerned, the ongoing judicial investigation will have to establish the possible responsibility of a foreign sponsor," the ministry said on Thursday.
But Viginum, the French body that monitors foreign interference, detected "the involvement of a network of 1,095 bots on platform X" (formerly Twitter) that published 2,589 posts related to these tags, he added. In addition, "while the first authentic publication of the photos of the tags seems to have taken place on October 30 (...), Viginum identified the first publications of the RRN botnet as early as October 28 (...) that is, almost 48 hours before."
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These tags have provoked a very strong emotion in France, against the backdrop of a major increase in anti-Semitic acts since the beginning of the war between Israel and Hamas. On Thursday, before the publication of this statement of France, Russian diplomacy denied any link with the tags, considering that the suspicions against Moscow, already relayed in the French press in recent days, were "stupid" and "unworthy".