Fake army website calls on 200,000 French people to fight for Ukraine

France has blocked a fake website inviting French nationals to join the war effort in Ukraine, the defence ministry said on Thursday.

The site, which is now inaccessible, claimed that 200,000 French people were invited to “enlist in Ukraine”, with immigrants given priority.

A link to the site, which resembled the French army’s genuine recruitment portal, was posted on X, formerly Twitter, said the French defence ministry.

“The site is a fake government site and has been reposted by malevolent accounts as part of a disinformation campaign,” it warned.

Government sources reportedly 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”.

The fake website invited potential recruits to contact “unit commander Paul” for information about joining.

The defence ministry and government cyber units say they are looking into it.

Emmanuel Macron, the French president, triggered a furious response from the Russian leadership last month when he said he could not rule out sending ground troops to Ukraine, whose defeat would pose an “existential threat” to Europe.

Similar recent disinformation posts included pictures of French army convoys wrongly presented as moving towards the Ukrainian border, the official said.

The French government has recently stepped up efforts to identify and tackle what it says are Russian disinformation and destabilisation campaigns aimed at undermining French public support for Ukraine in its war against Russia.

Russian network uncovered

Last month, the government agency Viginum, dedicated to defence against foreign online threats, said it had discovered a network of Russian websites designed to spread Kremlin propaganda in the West.

It warned the “structured and coordinated” network was targeting Europe and the United States. Code-named “Portal Kombat”, the network comprises 193 websites, Viginum reported after investigating between September and December last year.

The French government has warned that disinformation attacks from countries like Russia are “likely to intensify” before European elections in June where hard-Right parties are polling to make gains.

In January, France accused Russia of seeking to amplify panic over the alleged spread of bedbugs that gripped the country in the autumn of 2023.

Jean-Noel Barrot, France’s Europe minister, said: “The issue of bedbugs was artificially amplified on social networks by accounts that have been established to be of Russian inspiration or origin.”

“It was very largely amplified by accounts linked to the Kremlin,” he told TF1 television.