The Ministry of Defense of France: the words of the head of the SVR about 2,000 soldiers

The Ministry of Defense of France called “disinformation” the statements made earlier on Tuesday by the head of the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) of Russia, Sergei Naryshkin, that Paris was allegedly preparing to send about 2,000 French soldiers to Ukraine.

“This is another example of Russia’s systematic use of mass disinformation,” the French ministry said.

Earlier, the Russian mass media quoted the statement of Naryshkin, who claimed that the French “contingent to be sent to Ukraine is already being prepared” and that “at the initial stage, it will consist of about 2,000 people.” The head of the SVR declared that this unit “will become a priority legitimate target for attacks by the Russian Armed Forces”, “which means that the fate of all Frenchmen who have ever come to the territory of the Russian world with a sword awaits it.”

French President Emmanuel Macron recently did not rule out that military personnel from NATO countries, including France, may be sent to Ukraine. His words sparked a lively debate among NATO allies, representatives of many countries declared that they did not consider such an opportunity for themselves. Macron has repeatedly clarified his words, in particular, asserting that there should be no so-called “red lines” in support of Ukraine and the opportunity for maneuver should be preserved. At the same time, Macron noted that there is currently no talk of sending any military to Ukraine, and if any contingent is sent in the future, it will not participate in offensive operations against Russian troops.

Reports of the alleged impending dispatch of 2,000 or 2,500 French soldiers to Odessa appeared in Russian pro-military telegram channels without any reliable sources being cited.

Official Moscow claims that many French mercenaries are participating in the war on the side of Ukraine, and allegedly dozens of them were recently killed in an attack on Kharkov. No evidence of this was presented. In France, they do not deny that a certain number of citizens of the country may fight in the ranks of the Armed Forces, but they note that this is a purely private initiative of theirs, and we are not talking about mercenaries, but about servicemen of the regular Ukrainian troops.

Naryshkin, as well as other heads of the Russian special services, often make statements for which evidence is not subsequently found. This was the case, for example, with allegations of the preparation of the explosion of the so-called dirty bomb in Ukraine or the explosion of shells with depleted uranium, the radioactive cloud from which allegedly moved to Europe (this was claimed by the Secretary of the Security Council, Mykola Patrushev).