Propagandists are spreading the claim on social media that the French government and President Emmanuel Macron are deliberately persecuting Le Pen and that her chances for a fair trial are limited due to reports of new details in the case against her. At the same time, analogies are being spread with trials against other opposition figures around the world, which reinforces the impression of a supposedly global trend of persecuting opponents. However, this is not true.

In reality, the investigation against Le Pen is related to possible abuses of EU funds allocated to pay assistants to MEPs. If investigators confirm violations, Le Pen and her colleagues could face restrictions on their political activities. However, this does not mean automatic intervention by the Macron government — the French legal system is independent, and such accusations against politicians require careful and objective examination to confirm or refute the allegations on the basis of facts, not political sympathies.

The main purpose of spreading this disinformation is to discredit both the French government and the judiciary, while creating the impression that Western democracies are not as free as they claim to be and persecute the opposition for political reasons. Such narratives have the potential to weaken citizens’ trust in democratic institutions, paint Europe in a negative light, and encourage the view that no government in the world is fully transparent and objective. The propaganda also attempts to mobilize Le Pen’s right-wing supporters by highlighting injustices that could inflame political sentiments in society and deepen divisions between political camps.

Propagandists are spreading information in the media that French President Emmanuel Macron is funding Ukrainian military recruitment offices to mobilize Ukrainians for war. These statements are based on statements by Florian Philippot, a former MEP and populist politician known for his pro-Russian rhetoric. This is reported by the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security.

They say Philippot was an ally of Marie Le Pen. He regularly voices theses that coincide with Russian propaganda, such as demands that Ukraine return military aid to the West. His statements are used to discredit Western support for Ukraine and to give the French a false impression of an allied relationship with Ukraine.

The idea of “using” Ukrainians for foreign interests undermines morale and destroys solidarity within Ukraine. Propagandists seek to create the false impression among the French that aid to Ukraine is a financial burden on their country. Statements such as “France is paying for mobilization” are intended to create the impression that the war in Ukraine is a burden for Europe, provoking anti-Ukrainian sentiment among European voters. The use of statements by politicians such as Philippot aims to reinforce disinformation with the authority of public figures, even if their positions are marginal and pro-Russian.

Such messages are part of a broader Kremlin information war aimed at undermining international support for Ukraine and creating conflicts between Ukraine and its Western partners.

This message was disseminated on a Polish pro-Russian Telegram channel with reference to the propaganda resource RT (formerly Russia Today), which in turn received the relevant information from the Russian diplomatic mission in Paris.

The propagandists add that Paris officially denies the participation of French mercenaries in the Russian-Ukrainian war, and local media do not hesitate to call them volunteers in their reports. In addition, mercenaries are also recruited through French-language groups on social networks. In the end, the propagandists provide a link to the website of the Ukrainian Embassy in France, which “confirms” the veracity of their words.

In fact, propagandists deliberately use the term “mercenaries” instead of the correct term “combatants” to refer to foreign fighters fighting in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. According to the Geneva Conventions, mercenaries participate in armed conflict illegally. They are not citizens or servicemen of the belligerent state, and this is their main difference from combatants. After all, foreigners who decide to fight on the side of Ukraine become part of the International Legion of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

As for the publication on the website of the Ukrainian Embassy in France, it provides basic information for citizens of other countries who are thinking about joining the ranks of the Ukrainian Armed Forces or have already made the decision to do so. And, of course, there is nothing illegal written there.

With this message, Russia is feeding its narrative about the presence of “foreign mercenaries” in Ukraine. In this way, Kremlin propaganda seeks to assert that it is not really fighting Ukraine, but the so-called “collective West”.

Previously, we recorded a fake from the Russians that in Kryvyi Rih, Russians got into the Aurora Hotel because “foreign mercenaries” were stationed there.

A screenshot of an advertisement from the popular Airbnb rental service is being circulated on social networks, in which they note that apartments are not rented out to Ukrainians “even for additional rent”.

“Paris no longer wants to rent housing to Ukrainians”, they write in propaganda publications.

StopFake analysts took on the case and determined that the ad photos were compiled using graphic editors. But in the real advertisement on the website there was no mention of Ukrainians.

Thus, Russian propaganda is trying to present Ukrainian refugees as criminals or terrorists, as a cultural and economic threat to the EU - in order to reduce support for Ukraine. We mentioned this in our own research. Since the beginning of the big war in Ukraine, Russian propaganda has been trying to discredit refugees who were forced to leave Ukraine in order to save their lives. Propagandists regularly spread fake news about them; call refugees dependents; they claim that they went abroad not for safety, but for profit; they convince that residents of countries that have accepted Ukrainian refugees are dissatisfied with the behavior of Ukrainians. Propagandists need this in order to stake out the opinion that Ukrainians are pagans who do not value the help provided to them by residents of other countries; take advantage of the kindness of people in other countries.

During this year, Russia has stepped up a disinformation campaign against France and the upcoming Summer Olympics in Paris, which begin on July 26. In November 2023, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) warned about fake news regarding the Olympics on Telegram and other social networks, which was confirmed at the time by the head of IOC communications Christian Klaue. Material with examples of such news was prepared by fact-checkers of the Norwegian organization Faktisk.

According to a June 6 Microsoft Threat Analysis Center (MTAC) report, Russia has been conducting influence operations for more than a year to influence the perception of the Olympics in France, attempting to “disrupt, discredit and humiliate the international competition in the eyes of participants, spectators and global audiences”. This, in particular, is associated with the fact that Russian athletes are prohibited from competing at the Games under the Russian flag. MTAC gave disinformation campaigns that spread fakes about the 2024 Olympics, the names Storm-1679 and Storm-1099. The Paris Olympic Games have been one of Storm-1679's main targets since last summer. MTAC chief Clint Watts told The New York Times that the cables are often the source of fake news in these campaigns, circulating for several days before disappearing. When fake content is checked by accounts or fact-checking resources with large followings, it gets more views and reaches new audiences. Bellingcat founder Eliot Higgins noted that fact-checking may lead to wider dissemination of content, but it does not help Russian propagandists much.

Microsoft cites several examples of disinformation in this campaign, including deepfake videos that were allegedly created by prominent news media and security institutions. One such video, purportedly from French TV channel France24, attempted to show that 24% of Olympic tickets sold were returned due to fears of terrorist attacks in Paris. Another video purportedly from the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) reinforced this message. It claimed that the CIA was allegedly warning of a major terrorist threat in the Paris metro. A CIA spokesman told American news outlet CBS News that the video was fake and had no connection with the agency. The video was also distributed by the English-language version of the Russian “online newspaper” Pravda, part of the Russian propaganda media network. The propagandists also created a fake documentary called Olympics Has Fallen, using the identity of the streaming platform Netflix and the voice of Tom Cruise, created using artificial intelligence. The video also included fake five-star reviews from prominent media outlets such as The New York Times, The Washington Post and the BBC. The mockumentary was subsequently removed from YouTube.

Norway's top fact-checking organization, Faktisk, and hundreds of other media outlets and fact-checkers around the world have been targeted by a Russian disinformation campaign in which a significant portion of emails asking to fact-check Olympics news have been coming from fake addresses over the past few months.

There have been precedents for the concentration of Russian propaganda efforts and disinformation campaigns around the Olympic Games. For example, during the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea, the opening ceremony suffered a cyber attack carried out by Russian intelligence officers in an attempt to create the impression that it was the work of North Korea.

In this case, the purpose of Russian disinformation is to undermine confidence in France, the IOC and the Olympic Games, as well as to create a negative image of the host country on the international stage. In addition, in this way they want to cause panic and create the illusion that international events without the presence of Russia are not important and relevant.

A video from the BBC is being circulated online, citing Bellingcat as saying that Emmanuel Macron may resign a week before the Olympics. The reasons for this decision are the victory of the radical right party in the elections to the European Parliament and the announcement of early parliamentary elections in France, as well as the high risk of terrorist threats and unpreparedness for the Olympic Games.

VoxCheck analysts explained that the BBC and Bellingcat did not disseminate such information. After all, the fake “report” was created from separate frames that were not related to each other.

A reverse photo search on Google showed that propagandists used individual photographs and videos from open sources to create the fake news. In particular, the photo with Emmanuel Macron was taken from the Instagram account of the official photographer of the French President.

Russian resources are disseminating information that graffiti has appeared on the streets of Paris depicting Mirage fighter planes, which France promised to transfer to Ukraine, in the shape of a coffin and with the caption: “Mirages for Ukraine”. In their news, propagandists refer to one of the French publications that covered this incident.

The Center for Countering Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council reports that this is manipulation. Although such graffiti did appear on the streets of Paris, propagandists have glossed over the fact that a Russian network is behind a series of these and other similar graffiti. Although the French publication wrote about this.

Such manipulative materials of Russian propagandists are designed for both Russian and Western audiences. In the first case, propagandists are trying to show ordinary Russians that no one in the West supports Ukraine. In the second, propagandists seek to influence the position of the French in the context of supporting Ukraine. Previously, we refuted information that Ukraine was allegedly ridiculed in street graffiti in Israel.

This resource disseminates fake news, in particular, about “the death of soldiers of the French Foreign Legion in the war in Ukraine”, criticizes the French government, publishes caricatures of President Macron, promotes pro-Russian fakes and supports right-wing radicals. They write about this in the Center for Strategic Communications and Security at the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine.

Resistancerepublicaine.com is registered and hosted in Moscow - that is why the .com domain was chosen rather than .fr, intended for French online resources. This was determined by researchers from Insight News Media.

According to investigators, the materials on this site are intended to spread chaos, despair and protest sentiments in France, to blow up the French government and support right-wing radicals committed to Moscow. Previously, we denied information that France had allegedly made an official decision to send its troops to Ukraine.

An alleged new cover of the French satirical publication Charlie Hebdo is being circulated online. The drawing depicts a French military man in the form of a dead man. The picture also has the caption: “Cold, smelly, full of holes, made in France, but not cheese”.

VoxCheck analysts analyzed the case and found that such a cover was not in any issue of Charlie Hebdo magazine. The cover of the magazine indicates that this is issue No. 1659 dated May 7, 2024 - but on the official website of the publication there is the original issue of the magazine for the specified period, which was also published under number 1659.

The cover may be linked to calls by some French MPs for a boycott of the participation of Israeli athletes in the Olympic Games in Paris.

Russian propaganda resources, as well as some foreign media, are disseminating information about the supposedly official decision of France to send its troops to Ukraine. Moreover, soldiers of the French Foreign Legion allegedly already arrived in Sloviansk to help the Ukrainian military.

In fact, this information is not true. The Center for Countering Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council writes about this. The primary source of this information is an article in the Asia Times. Its author, former Pentagon official Stephen Brian, who had previously been caught “playing along” with Russian narratives, published a lot of pro-Russian materials on the social network Substack, from where Asia Times took them. In this article, Brian refers to information from Russian propaganda resources that published this fake news. In addition, information about the decision to send French troops to Ukraine has already been denied by the French Foreign Ministry. This was written on the official page of the department on the social network X: “Disinformation campaigns to support France in Ukraine are more active than ever. France did not send troops to Ukraine”.

Russian propaganda has indeed intensified the creation of fakes about French troops in Donbas, Ukrinform reports. The goal of this campaign is to strengthen anti-Western and mobilization sentiments among Russians. Previously, Detector Media analyzed the fake Russian propaganda that French troops were supposedly heading to Romania and then arriving in Ukraine.

Pro-Russian resources are distributing a “video report” allegedly from the Euronews  channel that French President Emmanuel Macron is being threatened to force an escalation of the Russian-Ukrainian war. Citing Bellingcat journalists, the authors report that Macron is being “blackmailed with an intimate video”.

However, this is actually fake. Neither Euronews nor Bellingcat published such a video report. This was reported by specialists from the VoxCheck project. There is no news on the Euronews and Bellingcat websites about how the French President is being blackmailed.

In the Euronews “report” all the footage is taken from open sources. So, if you check the first frames from the video in a reverse search, it turns out that they were taken on March 15, 2024 during the meeting of the leaders of France, Germany and Poland - Macron, Scholz and Tusk - in Berlin.

Another shot of Macron was taken from his 60 minutes interview in 2022.

In addition, the fake report also quotes French political scientist Olivier Paquet as allegedly confirming that American intelligence regularly uses blackmail against other politicians. However, the political scientist did not make such a statement - at least, it is not in open sources.

Bellingcat previously denied that its investigators were mentioned in another fake video that was passed off as a BBC report. Using the logos of the world's leading media (Euronews, Politico, Reuters), such fakes about Ukraine or the West are regularly created. By distributing this particular fake video, Russian propaganda is trying to minimize international support for Ukraine in the war against Russia. Previously, we refuted information that Euronews allegedly showed a story that the statement of the Ukrainian Embassy in France angered French farmers.

Photos of women holding a large blue and yellow flag are being shared online. The publications add that the photo was taken during a rally of the “Marseille-Odesa” organization on the steps of the Saint-Charles train station in Marseille (France).

Propagandists stressed that the action allegedly outraged local residents, who began to trample and wave the Ukrainian flag. “Apparently, the French are already very fed up with the Ukrainians, if they are ready to do this with the “state” flag”, the propagandists comment. However, this is not true.

The VoxCheck analysts note that there is no information about a similar incident during the campaign. The “outraged” French could simply be invented by propagandists.

After all, on the official page of the “Marseille-Odesa” organization on Facebook, you can find the corresponding photo, which is used by fakers in their publications. In her caption, the head of the union Nataliia Dobrianska reports on the action and notes that Odesans like the stairs to the Saint-Charles station because they remind them of the Potemkin stairs in Odesa. However, neither the caption to the photo nor the comments to the post contain any mention of the flag-lowering incident.

Moreover, neither the Ukrainian nor the French media have any information about such incidents during the action.

Propagandists spread the word that the French are “mocking their Macron-Napoleon” and this seems to be confirmed by the cover of the French magazine L'Hémicycle, where Macron is depicted as a ragged angry rooster. They even claim that this cover was “hotly discussed” on the France 24 TV channel, and cite a fragment from the TV show where it was allegedly shown.

However, the authenticity of these claims is questionable, as the French magazine L'Hémicycle never ran a cover with Macron as a ragged rooster, and France 24 never aired a “ragged rooster with Macron's head” on air. Specialists of the StopFake project drew attention to this.

They found out that L'Hémicycle is a French independent magazine published quarterly with analysis, interviews, stories and narratives. The cover of L'Hémicycle is shown on social media, with the words Winter 2023 at the top and the issue number - 514. On the official website of L'Hémicycle, one can see the latest issue of the magazine, which was published on December 20, 2023. It also has the inscription Winter 2023 on the top right and the number 514 on the left. This confirms that it is about this particular issue of the magazine. However, the actual cover of the issue features a rooster's head as the symbol of the French Republic, not Emmanuel Macron. And even before that, the magazine had never been published with the cover distributed by the propagandists.

The program on France 24 did show the winter issue of L'Hémicycle, but the real one, with a rooster's head. So, Russian propaganda also changed the video of the French TV channel, inserting a fake cover with Macron in it.

Propagandists again created a fake with the aim of discrediting the political leaders of the European Union - this time Emmanuel Macron. Detector Media wrote how Russian propaganda reacted to the recent statements of the French president.

Information that French troops are being sent to Romania to confront the Russian army in Ukraine is actively spreading online. It is noted that they will be in Odesa. However, this information is fake.

Specialists from the VoxCheck project drew attention to this. They found out that such information first appeared on the FranceNews24 news portal on the X network, but was then deleted because it turned out to be false. It should be noted that this resource is not a reliable source of information as it does not have contact information or details of the owners or editorial team. He is also noted for publishing only pro-Russian materials.

Rumors about the deployment of French troops in Odesa circulated amid statements by President Macron about possible military assistance to Ukraine. However, even if this happens, military intervention requires permission from the relevant authorities, and in this case, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. It should also be noted that France has already stationed its troops in Romania as part of strengthening NATO's eastern flank.

Propagandists spread such fake news to intimidate the local population and discredit Western partners. Detector Media has already written about how Russian propaganda reacted to Macron’s recent statements.

Propagandists in Russian-language telegram channels published a video claiming that the statement of the Ukrainian Embassy in France outraged French farmers. The video, which bears the logo of the media company Euronews, shows a document that, according to the authors of such messages, indicates that the Ukrainian Embassy called on farmers to end their protest and unite as Ukrainians in favor of their Motherland. According to the video, the leader of the farmers' union responded to this by saying that Ukraine has no right to demand anything from France and should keep its opinion to itself. They say that because of this statement, farmers threw manure at the Embassy. However, this is fake.

Specialists from the MythDetector project drew attention to it. They found that although the Euronews logo was used in the video, the media had never published such content. Also, the information that farmers threw manure at the Embassy was not confirmed. Local media such as France 24 and Le Monde did not write about this. The initial footage of the video shows the farmers' protest, but they were not filmed in front of the Ukrainian Embassy, but in front of the regional council building in the city of Dijon. The authors of the video claim that the statement from the Ukrainian Embassy is dated February 7, and therefore farmers should have tested in the following days, but the video used has been circulating on social networks since December 2023. In addition, the statements that the propagandists are talking about are not on the official resources of the Embassy.

Open's fact-checkers also verified this video with the Euronews logo. The organization compared the signature on a fictitious document attributed to Ukrainian Ambassador Vadym Omelchenko with his real signature. It turned out that, among other inaccuracies, the signature shown in the video did not match the Ambassador's real signature. The video also falsified a commentary by Arnaud Rousseau, the leader of France's largest farmers' union. The images, which show Rousseau’s false statement on screen, were cut from an interview published on February 2.

Since the beginning of Russian aggression against Ukraine, videos with logos of various foreign media have appeared. They mainly concerned events in Ukraine and the West and had the goal of discrediting Ukraine and the EU countries. This is especially true in the context of farmer protests across Europe, which Russia is trying to fuel. Detector Media recently published a study on exactly how Russian propaganda does this and what role right-wing movements play in this.

This information was disseminated by pro-Russian resources, citing the “story” of the French France24. The TV channel host allegedly reported that French President Emmanuel Macron canceled his trip to Ukraine, planned for February 13-14, 2024, due to “preparation of an assassination attempt on him by the Ukrainian special services”. They say that the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate, Kyrylo Budanov, was preparing an assassination attempt on Macron, but the special operation was thwarted due to the transfer of information to the French side by the former commander of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Valerii Zaluzhnyi.

In fact, this information is not true. Yes, the French President really postponed his visit to Ukraine for security reasons. However, not because of the “attempt on his life”. Some Russian sites began to independently disseminate a refutation of this information with a link to the France 24 channel, since it did not publish such a story.

Propagandists referred to videos of very poor quality, making it difficult to verify whether it was a deepfake or not. However, due to the deepfake video detection tool DeepFake-O-Meter, it was possible to analyze it. The result is a credibility score indicating that the video is likely to be fake.

In addition, in a commentary to RBK-Ukraine, GUR representative Andrii Yusov stated that “this is another Russian special operation and information attack against Ukraine”.  “Thus, the enemy is trying to implement his so-called Maidan-3 plan to discredit Ukraine in the international arena and destabilize the situation within the country”, he added.

Propagandists spread this disinformation story online as France and Ukraine approach the finalization of a bilateral agreement on security guarantees for the latter. That is, by spreading such fakes, Russian propaganda is trying to prevent the signing of the agreement, since this is unprofitable for Russia.

Unverified lists of French soldiers who allegedly died as a result of rocket attacks on hotels in Kharkiv have appeared on social networks and publications in both Russian and Western media. The Russians, by distributing such lists, are trying to confirm the thesis about the presence of “foreign mercenaries” in Ukraine. However, this is fake.

Specialists from the Beyond the News project drew attention to it. They found that in justifying missile attacks on civilian targets in Kharkiv, in particular on the Kharkiv Palace and the Park Hotel, the Russians claim that they eliminated “200 mercenaries”. However, the GUR calls this nonsense.

According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, on January 10, as a result of rocket attacks at the Park Hotel, 13 civilians were wounded; not a single military man was in the hotel. Among the victims were media representatives from Turkey and Georgia.

Despite this, the Russians continue to support the thesis of killed “French mercenaries” to justify the shelling of civilian targets. On January 16, they again attacked the city center, damaging a private hospital and residential buildings and injuring 17 people. This fiction appeared again in the media after rocket attacks on Kharkiv on the night of January 22-23.

Russian propagandists are disseminating information about the supposedly dead “French artillerymen” in Kharkiv, but the project’s fact-checkers have not found any truthful evidence in this. In addition, the published names of the “dead” turned out to be part of the list that Russian propagandists published back in April 2022 as a list of “foreign mercenaries in Ukraine as of 2021”.

Propagandists spread such fake news to justify attacks against civilian infrastructure. Such actions qualify as a violation of international humanitarian law and constitute the legal basis for future liability of the Russians.

Propagandists spreading pro-Russian rhetoric in the media claim that the Azov battalion allegedly started a campaign to find volunteers in France to participate in the war in Ukraine. Like, even a site with the necessary information indicates this. This is a fake.

Specialists of the Center of Countering Disinformation of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine drew attention to it. They found out that there is no information about the start of the recruiting campaign in France on the official pages of the battalion. What's more, the postal address and fax of the site, which is distributed by propagandists, is in Germany, which does not match the legend of the fake.

By spreading such fakes, the Russians are trying to discredit the Ukrainian military and individual brigades in the international arena. In addition, in this way they want to cause panic among foreigners. They said that Ukraine is in massive need of military personnel, and that is why it is looking for them abroad. Detector Media has repeatedly refuted other Russian messages, manipulations and fakes aimed at discrediting the Azov battalion.

Residents of Paris and visitors to the city have noticed bedbugs in public places. Despite bedbug outbreaks occurring regularly in late summer in France, Parisians were feeling concerned. In this regard, seven schools were even closed in France. Against this background, pro-Russian anonymous Telegram channels and some social network users began to spread information that the French newspaper La Montagne allegedly blames Russia for the “invasion of bedbugs” in Paris. They say that anti-Russian sanctions are to blame for everything, and because of them France was unable to purchase the necessary insecticides from Russia.

The fact-checkers of the StopFake project analyzed this case and came to the conclusion that the French publication did not publish news that sanctions against Russia are the reason for the appearance of bedbugs in Paris. As Politico journalists report, bedbugs in France have ceased to be a serious household problem since the 1950s. Although they have appeared again in the last 30 years, this certainly has no connection with anti-Russian sanctions. Adaptation of insects to insecticides, climate change and the fact that people now travel more in crowded transport are the main reasons for the mass appearance of bedbugs.

Russian propaganda systematically spreads disinformation about the “uselessness” and “insignificance” of Western countries’ sanctions against Russia. They appeal to the fact that Russian resources and goods are vital to the world. Previously, we analyzed Russian manipulation of French winemakers, who were allegedly subjected to a crisis due to “anti-Russian sanctions”.

Pro-Kremlin telegram channels are disseminating information that the Imam of the Grand Mosque of Paris allegedly thanked Ukraine for weapons for Hamas to attack Israel. An article allegedly appeared about this in the French publication RFI, Russian propaganda refers to it and seems to cite screenshots from it. It's fake.

The case was examined by the fact-checkers from the Center for Countering Disinformation. There is no article with similar content on the resources of the French publication RFI. Ukraine does not resell weapons from Western partners to Hamas militants.

Russian propaganda systematically promotes the narrative that Ukraine resells the weapons provided to it by the West. Thus, Russian propagandists seek to discredit Ukraine and reduce the support of Western partners. Previously, Detector Media refuted the fake news that Ukraine is selling weapons to Hamas.

Such information is disseminated in anonymous telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. The authors of the messages refer to a story from the French TV channel CNews and write that in France, Ukrainian refugees are already being thrown out onto the streets to shelter illegal immigrants from Africa. However, this is fake.

Analysts from the Center for Countering Disinformation investigated that the story of the French TV channel was about a shelter in a school for migrants from Africa and was not about the eviction of Ukrainians. Previously, Ukrainian refugees actually lived in the school building, but by the time the migrants moved in, they had already left the shelter.

Thus, Russian propagandists are trying to create the illusion that Ukraine’s allies are tired of the war and no longer want to help Ukrainians. Earlier, Detector Media refuted the fake news that Ukrainian refugees are giving birth to children for sale.

Pro-Kremlin media are disseminating information that Germany and France allegedly promised the Ukrainian authorities early accession to the European Union if they help overthrow the Polish government. It seems that accession is impossible without changing the treaties, and it is Poland that is blocking these changes. Russian propaganda refers to Dominika Chosych, a correspondent for Polish television, who wrote about this. It's fake.

As the fact-checkers at the Center for Strategic Communications note, the Ukrainian authorities have not received such proposals from France and Germany. Moreover, the representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ihor Nikolenko, commented on this information on his Facebook page. He confirmed that there was no such proposal, and “[Ukraine] did not and does not have any intentions to interfere in the internal affairs of Poland”.

Nikolenko thanked the Poles who showed solidarity with the Ukrainians and noted that “Ukraine highly appreciates Poland’s support in repelling Russian aggression, support for our path to membership in the EU and NATO.”

Polish journalist Chosych, as determined by investigators of the BezBrekhni (No lies) project, whose words contain hidden Kremlin narratives, is playing along with Russia.

Thus, Russian propagandists are trying to create a quarrel between Poland and Ukraine, reduce the assistance of the Poles and discredit Western countries, in particular France and Germany. Detector Media reported on the message that Poland was “expelling” Ukrainians from the country to serve in the Ukrainian Defense Forces.

This thesis was spread by propaganda media. Reports say that wines and vineyards are being destroyed in France precisely because of the sanctions imposed by the French government on Russia. The authors add that Moscow was the largest importer of wines, but after the “sanctions war” the French “played it out” and are experiencing a crisis in the wine industry. The publications also try to point out that imposing sanctions on Russia is supposedly ineffective, and as a result, the European countries themselves are supposedly suffering. After all, they are experiencing the impact of the “lack of Russian sales market” themselves. However, this is manipulation.

The fact-checkers of the StopFake project were able to process the case, explaining that the French wine industry is indeed not in the best conditions, if not in crisis. For example, in August 2023, the French government allocated 200 million euros to recycle excess wine production. This initiative from the French Parliament is caused by excessive production and, as a consequence, a decrease in its demand. Actions by the French authorities should curb price fluctuations and support producers who are losing their income. That is, the problems in the wine industry are in no way caused by anti-Russian sanctions or other prohibitions against Moscow. The authors of the manipulative message simply used the news about the crisis situation with wine and presented it as a consequence of the “struggle” with Russia.

In general, as experts say, the level of red consumption has fallen throughout the country: primarily due to the fact that the French began to prefer craft beer. Even in one of the materials of the French daily newspaper Le Figaro they write that wine has given way to beer in 2023 and, according to recent surveys, 56% of the French choose an intoxicating drink. Also, an analytical study by the European Commission for June 2023 shows a decline in wine consumption in other EU countries: by 7% in Italy, by 10% in Spain, and by 15% in France.

As for the “large Russian sales market”, the main consumer of red wine and importer has always been China, not Russia. In particular, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the cessation of Chinese wine supplies even then had a negative impact on the entire wine-growing region of the country. And now wine producers cannot reach pandemic level exports.

Russia is trying to distort the impression that sanctions supposedly do not affect it, while other countries that are economically stable and ready to impose restrictions on Moscow are suffering from the “reverse effect”. But, let’s say, they suffer from the lack of the Russian market. The Kremlin systematically cultivates rhetoric about the so-called “big Russian market” in order to hint that the EU countries will not survive at all if they do not sell their goods to Russia. If they resist, they will face the same fate as the French wine industry. However, according to monitoring by the Kyiv School of Economics, as of July 2023, 254 companies (7.6% of companies that received income in Russia in 2022) have completely ceased their activities in Russia. And 1,191 (35.9% of the total) foreign businesses also folded. Companies will one day abandon Russia, not seeing this as a risk for themselves.

By the way, according to the European Council, 2022 was a bad year for the Russian economy. According to experts, in 2022 Russia's gross domestic product fell by at least 2.2% under the best scenario and to 3.9% under the worst-case scenario. The Russian economy will continue to contract in 2023. GDP is expected to contract by 5.6% or 3.3%.

On the Russian segment of the social network X, formerly known as Twitter, and anonymous telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric, they are distributing a photo of a billboard allegedly installed in France in honor of Ukraine's Independence Day. It shows a map of Ukraine without Crimea, and the colors of the national flag are reversed. It's fake.

The case was investigated by the fact-checkers of the StopFake project. Using image search tools, they determined that this billboard is indeed in Copenhagen and does not have a map of Ukraine on it. And Ukrinform journalists found that the original image was taken from the brand book of the Danish company AFA JCDecaux. Moreover, French President Emmanuel Macron, during his speech at the Crimean Platform on August 23, once again stressed that he does not recognize the annexation of Crimea.

Thus, Russian propaganda is trying to discredit Western partners and sow discord between Ukraine and France. Previously, we refuted the manipulation that the French instructors do not care about the fate of the Ukrainian military.

Such information was disseminated in social networks, in particular, on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. Reports say that during the July protests in France, protesters used Ukrainian weapons that the West handed over to Ukraine. The reason for the riots was the likely deliberate murder of a 17-year-old teenager by a policeman in the suburbs of Paris. The publications hint that in Ukraine they are engaged in the illegal sale of weapons and “inciting” people to violence. The authors refer to the material of one of the French publications and add a screenshot.

The German fact-checker group Correctiv investigated that they did not find a single material on the sale of Ukrainian weapons for protests in France. They explain that this is just a stuffing, because with the help of a reverse search on Google, specialists managed to study a possible “screenshot” of the material. It turned out that the fakerobes overlaid text on the photo of the weapon and passed it off as material. However, this is a random image from the network and has nothing to do with either the material of the French edition or Ukrainian weapons.

By publishing such fakes, propagandists once again want to show Ukrainians as ungrateful provocateurs who want to destabilize the situation in Europe. Like, Ukrainians resell it on the black market and it falls into the hands of criminals. Thus, the authors undermine the authority of the Ukrainian authorities and try to disrupt future deliveries of armed assistance from NATO countries. After all, such fakes are targeted at the Western audience and leaders in order to inspire despondency towards the actions of Ukraine.

We recently debunked a fake about the so-called “illegal sale” of weapons to Africa.