French Minister of the Armed Forces Sébastien Lecornu denounced on Thursday recent Russian
“attempts to take control” of French air and maritime patrols, citing in particular an incident
“a month”
ago
in the Black Sea.
“You have attempts by the Russians to take control of a number of our patrols, a month ago a Russian air control system threatened to shoot down French planes in the Black Sea while we were in an internationally free zone in which we patrol
,” he told French radio RTL.
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“You have Russian operators threatening French pilots to shoot down their aircraft
,” he continued.
These are air and maritime patrols supposed to guarantee freedom of movement on several seas around the world.
The minister also mentioned a Russian warship which anchored in the Bay of Seine, certainly in an international zone but
“as if to come and intimidate France”
.
Threats of “sabotage and cyberattack”
For several days, the government has been emphasizing an
“aggressive”
and hybrid Russian positioning, that is to say in several areas such as cyber, disinformation, energy, food, in addition to frontal military attacks.
“It’s as old as the Cold War”
but
“Russia is playing with the thresholds in terms of aggressiveness
,” he concluded, citing a cyber attack this time targeting a French defense company and in particular its production of armaments.
French Minister of the Armed Forces Sébastien Lecornu called this weekend for the strengthening of security measures in the face of threats of Russian
“sabotage and cyberattack”
which target his ministry
“primarily”
, in an internal memo of which AFP received acquaintance Tuesday.