Is Kremlin manipulation of French elections proven?
Absolutely. For ten years, the Kremlin has been manipulating the opinion of democratic nations, and this has intensified sharply since the war in Ukraine. France has become a priority target since President Emmanuel Macron declared on January 16 that Russia should not prevail in Ukraine and put on the table the option of sending French troops and providing fighter jets. We can refer to the latest report from the European Union which details the targeting of France and Germany by the Doppelgänger network.
Can the Kremlin be blamed for the political rise of the RN?
The goal is to promote anti-system parties in the hope that they will join governments. However, the RN and its allies are considered the most capable of achieving this. The means? Hacking our public debate by pushing onto the media agenda the subjects that favor the RN: insecurity, terrorist threats, migratory psychosis, cyberattacks, and even bedbugs. With the high point, since October 2023, the instrumentalization of the conflict in the Middle East to amplify polarization and favor the extreme right.
Is there still naivety in France on the subject?
No. The armies, the intelligence services know what to expect, and so does the Élysée, since February 15, when the Quai d’Orsay publicly denounced “a coordinated and assumed strategy of information warfare against France.” The coordination work is carried out by Sergei Kirienko, whom the Kremlin has tasked with reorganizing the Russian services. On February 3, 2024, Dmitri Medvedev, vice-president of the Russian Security Council, had openly claimed this support for the anti-system parties. The Kremlin did not invent social unrest, French divisions or the RN and LFI vote. But it is working to amplify them.
He wants to push Bardella to Matignon?
Without a doubt, but the Kremlin’s goal is not limited to favoring the victory of an objective ally and weakening support for Ukraine. It is above all, as we saw in the manipulation of the 2016 election in the United States (and soon that of 2024) or in the United Kingdom with Brexit, to delegitimize democracy, this virus feared by autocratic regimes. The Chinese regime is not to be outdone. We owe it, for example, the organization of pro-Palestinian demonstrations on American campuses because it follows the Russian path in terms of polarization.
Including in France?
Certainly. I am thinking, for example, of a recent study on data from the Chinese network TikTok that traces the visibility of political figures since last January. However, we can see the linear, and abnormal, progression of Jordan Bardella’s audience. However, the most plausible explanation is that of algorithmic amplification carried out by Chinese engineers.
(1) Latest published work: “The Information War, States conquering our minds” (ed. Tallandier 2023, €23.90).
