Summoned to the Quai d'Orsay to explain the death of two French humanitarian workers in Ukraine, in a bombing attributed to Putin's army, the Russian ambassador to France Alexeï Mechkov denounced during this interview "the irresponsibility and the danger of Paris's increasing involvement in the Ukrainian conflict,” its embassy announced on Monday.
He accused France of supplying Kiev with “increasingly destructive and deadly weapons” and of not having condemned recent particularly deadly Ukrainian strikes in Russia and in the zone occupied by Moscow in eastern Ukraine.
Alexeï Mechkov was summoned to the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday, following the death of two French humanitarian workers in Ukraine last Thursday.
The two victims died during a strike on Beryslav, a small town located on the north bank of the Dnieper river, according to the French ministry, which also reported three French people injured.
Paris denounced an act of “barbarism” by Moscow.
The anti-terrorism prosecution opened an investigation on Friday evening.
“Emotional outbursts”
“We have of course paid attention to these new emotional outbursts (…) targeting our country,” declared Monday the spokesperson for Russian diplomacy, Maria Zakharova, questioned by the media on the French reaction to the death of humanitarian workers.
“We hope that what happened will lead French public opinion to reflect even more on the merits of the counterproductive and dangerous line of their leaders regarding the conflict in Ukraine,” she said. added.
Moscow notably castigated the French “militarist frenzy” after the promise of new arms deliveries to kyiv.
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Paris had also indicated that during this interview, he would discuss “the resurgence of disinformation targeting France”.
The Russian Defense Ministry claimed last month to have “eliminated” around sixty fighters, most of them “French mercenaries” in a strike on the night of January 16 to 17 in Kharkiv, in the north-east of Ukraine.
Information immediately denied by Paris.
In the wake of these accusations, several lists, including one supposed to reveal the identity of around thirty “dead French mercenaries”, had been relayed massively by Telegram channels and pro-Kremlin activists before French volunteers in Ukraine deny this information themselves.
“A wave of disinformation” in the coming days?
“We expect a wave of disinformation before Macron's visit to Ukraine,” a French specialist in military issues recently stressed to a few journalists.
The French president announced in January that he would visit Ukraine in February, a visit for which the date has not yet been communicated.
“France is today one of Russia's main targets in the information field,” recalled the expert, estimating that the story of the alleged mercenaries was “a textbook case”, the tempo of the accusations responding precisely to the French announcements in favor of Kiev.
Russia is regularly accused by Paris of manipulation of information targeting France and other Western countries.
In June, the French authorities denounced a vast digital interference operation, notably through the publication of false content hostile to Ukraine on sites imitating those of major French dailies.
One of these articles claimed that Paris was going to introduce a tax to finance aid to Ukraine.
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In the fall, false advertisements and false graffiti against Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky circulated on the Internet to support the idea of a growing weariness of public opinion in Europe and the United States with regard to kyiv.
The message: to make people believe in an increase in spontaneous demonstrations hostile to Zelensky in Western countries, whose leaders nevertheless overwhelmingly support kyiv.
Based on a classic process of disinformation with a political aim, these narratives seek not only to undermine this support but also to stir up dissension within Western societies, believe French officials.
“Russia cannot count on any fatigue from Europeans in their support for Ukraine,” assured Emmanuel Macron last Thursday, after the agreement reached by European leaders on aid of 50 billion euros for kyiv.
A clear message sent to Vladimir Putin.