As France heads into a high-stakes presidential race, security officials say a Russian disinformation operation has singled out candidate Gabriel Attal, using fabricated claims pushed online to undermine the former prime minister.
The alleged interference comes as France prepares for next year’s presidential election, with the far right eyeing its best chance yet at winning.
Security authorities detected “external interference originating from Russia and bodies linked to the Russian central government” aimed at the 37-year-old centrist, a member of Mr Attal’s staff said.
Viginum, France’s government body tasked with combating online disinformation, said it identified the operation the day before.
The agency attributed the campaign with a “high-degree of confidence” to the pro-Russia “Matryoshka” network.
Despite the attribution, the activity stayed “relatively low-profile” and drew only a few thousand views, according to a security source.
The false material surfaced on X through posts masquerading as established French news outlets, wrongly alleging that Mr Attal had Parkinson’s disease or backed a more favourable policy towards squatters.
A source close to Mr Attal said the campaign was likely driven by his “commitment to Ukraine” following Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022.
The incident adds to a string of recent reports of Russian-linked networks going after French political figures.
French authorities last week detected a disinformation campaign targeting Raphael Glucksmann, a left-wing member of the European Parliament and outspoken Kremlin critic expected to run for France’s top job next year, the source within the security services said yesterday.
That campaign was traced to the propaganda network Storm-1516, which the source said has been linked to Russian intelligence.
The same group last month also targeted presidential candidate Edouard Philippe, another centrist former prime minister, using social media posts that circulated false information about his health.
