French authorities have uncovered a website containing a fake recruitment drive for French volunteers to join the war in Ukraine, the defence ministry said on Thursday.
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The site has now been taken down by French services, a government source, who asked not to be named, told AFP without giving further details on the nature of the operation.
The site, which is now inaccessible, said 200,000 French people were invited to “enlist in Ukraine“, with immigrants given priority.
A link to the site – that resembled the French army’s genuine recruitment portal – had been posted on X, formerly Twitter, the French defence ministry said.
“The site is a fake government site,” the ministry said, also on X, “and has been reposted by malevolent accounts as part of a disinformation campaign”.
🚨 #Désinformation. L’URL d’un site « s’engager en Ukraine » qui reprend la charte graphique des sites gouvernementaux circule actuellement sur X. Ce site est un faux site gouvernemental, relayé sur les réseaux sociaux par des comptes malveillants, pour une campagne de… pic.twitter.com/SuVUrocVPk
— Ministère des Armées 🇫🇷 (@Armees_Gouv) March 28, 2024
The ministry did not name any suspects in the website spoof, but a government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the site bore “the hallmarks of a Russian or pro-Russian effort as part of a disinformation campaign claiming that the French army is preparing to send troops to Ukraine”.
French President Emmanuel Macron angered the Russian leadership last month by hardening his tone on the conflict sparked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, refusing to rule out sending ground troops and insisting Europe had to do all that was needed for a Russian defeat.
Similar recent examples of disinformation posts included pictures of French army convoys wrongly presented as moving towards the Ukrainian border, the official said.
The fake website invited potential recruits to contact “unit commander Paul” for information about joining.
The defence ministry and government cyber units are investigating, ministry staff told AFP.
The French government has recently stepped up efforts to denounce and fight what it says are Russian disinformation and destabilisation campaigns aimed at undermining French public support for Ukraine in its war against Russia.
(AFP)
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