Russia ramps up disinformation attacks on French media ahead of 2027 Presidential race

The Russian disinformation operations that emerged at the start of the war in Ukraine have ramped up in the past year, with fake news articles and reports hijacking trusted media brands, to undermine public trust and deceive AI systems, a NewsGuard report released on Monday found. 

Specialists from the US media watchdog found that three pro-Russian influence operations were the source of 950 fake news stories that mimicked 163 “supposedly trusted news brands” in 21 countries.

Among the 15 most imitated media brands were eight French outlets, including FRANCE 24, which saw its brand coopted by fake news stories 34 times over 12 months.

“It's no surprise that France, which is one of the biggest contributors of aid to Ukraine, is being specifically targeted,” said Chine Labbé, Europe editor at NewsGuard.  

“We know that every time there is a show of diplomatic support for Ukraine – whether it's a speech by Emmanuel Macron, or a trip to Kyiv – disinformation campaigns follow within the same day.”

And ahead of the 2027 Presidential elections, France seems evermore in the crosshairs of pro-Russian actors. 

Three presidential candidates who have pledged unwavering support for Ukraine – Raphaël Glucksmann, Gabriel Attal and Édouard Philippe – have all recently been the subject of fake news stories linked to pro-Russian groups.

Read moreRussia ramps up disinformation war as French presidential elections draw nearer

Europe on the front line

There are multiple objectives for Moscow’s information war according to NewsGuard, which compiled the report with the Ukrainian agency, Center for Countering Disinformation, French government agency Viginum, and anonymous research group, Antibot4Navalny.

These include discrediting support for Ukraine, undermining the reputation of Western leaders, stoking tensions within European democracies and disrupting electoral processes.

Year-on-year, the report found there had been an 850 percent increase in fake news stories mimicking known media brands – rising from 44 in the first half of 2025 to 421 in the first half of 2026. 

“The explosion of this phenomenon may mean that the Russians see it as an effective tactic for eroding Western citizens' trust in the media – or at the very least, that there is significant potential to be tapped at little cost,” said Labbé.

“These days, it costs nothing to create a fake news site using AI and generate a lot of content.”

The report found pro-Kremlin influence campaigns had imitated media from global news outlets such as the BBC and CNN, to local news sites such as Ukraine’s Kyiv Independent and France’s La Montagne.

But European media outlets were the main target for this form of hybrid warfare linked to the Russian government under operations known as Matriochka, Storm-1516 and Doppelganger.

The most imitated outlet by far was Euronews, a multilingual platform based in France, which was the target for 82 fake articles between March 2023 and September 2026.

An example from 2026 was published shortly before Hungary’s parliamentary elections, which resulted in pro-Russian former prime minister Viktor Orban being removed from power.

It falsely claimed that pro-European candidate and current Prime Minister, Peter Magyar, called US President Donald Trump a “senile grandpa”, and that he wanted to end agreements between their two countries.

The other seven French news outlets among the 15 most targeted include Libération, Charlie Hebdo, BFM, FRANCE 24, Le Figaro, Le Parisien and Agence France-Presse (AFP).

“In every case, the Russian campaigns hijack the brands’ logos and layouts, sometimes creating a new site using a URL similar to the authentic one, making it difficult for the typical user to discern that it is counterfeit,” wrote NewsGuard. “The stories often include invented quotes from actual subject experts.”

“Leveraging a trusted media brand makes it possible to produce more credible fake news,” added Labbé. “But the long-term goal isn't to make you believe this or that piece of information. Their aim is to sow doubt in all our institutions.”

Read moreRussian interference in Armenia: A nation tested by disinformation

“It could damage trust, not only in our media, but in all media,” Cécile Mégie, Director of Editorial Strategies and Partnerships at France Médias Monde (FMM), which includes FRANCE 24 and RFI, told NewsGuard.

“It’s creating a climate of doubt about everything… The challenge is to navigate this climate and to show we are trustworthy media.”

Influencing AI

Disseminating disinformation on an industrial scale requires an army of fake social media accounts and pro-Kremlin media outlets that NewsGuard identifies as "the Pravda network", also known as Portal Kombat.

Made up of 280 websites that publish articles from pro-Russian outlets, Newsguard estimates that Pravda published approximately 6.3 million articles spreading 115 false claims in 2025.

One of the network’s stories published in 12 languages appeared to be from French news site Le Point. It falsely reported in 2026 that 20,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been evacuated to France for medical reasons where they had then deserted the army to join criminal gangs.

Read moreHybrid warfare: The threat of Russia looms over the Mediterranean

Official figures show that a little over 200 Ukrainians were transferred to French hospitals between February 2022 and April 2025, most of whom were war-wounded or children with serious medical conditions. 

But the flood of fake news was enough to convince Google’s AI tool that the story could be real. 

When questioned, the tech giant’s AI chatbot sourced fake articles supposedly from Le Point to claim that “thousands” of Ukrainian soldiers had received medical care in France. 

“That's one of Matriochka's goals: to whitewash the Russian narrative by getting picked up by other media outlets or finding its way into chatbot responses,” said Labbé.

Read moreAI chatbot responses polluted by pro-Russian disinformation

Google defended its AI tool to NewsGuard, saying it had been unable to reproduce responses that referenced the fake news story. 

“We have a high bar for our AI features in Search, and we invest significantly in the quality of responses,” a Google spokesperson said.

Yet another disinformation tactic aims to “overwhelm fact-checkers” themselves, using email campaigns to bombard journalists with fake reports, urging them to investigate their claims.

The goal – according to a 2025 Vigium report, is that fake stories will get picked up and gain traction.

Even if fake stories don’t go viral, they can still erode the overall quality of online news. “We need to be careful about how we address certain narratives,” said Labbé. 

“We should treat fake news stories that don’t go viral differently from those that generate millions of views, but we still must continue to monitor them and document the tactics being used. If we don’t fight back, there’s a risk that AI tools will be influenced and citizens will be misinformed.”

This article was adapted from French by Joanna York. Click here to read the original.