France suspects meddling by Russia in run-up to presidential polls, says source

• France suspects Russia is spreading fake stories to destabilise the 2027 presidential election campaign.
• The disinformation targets key candidates Raphael Glucksmann and Edouard Philippe, using fake documents, AI voices, and false social media posts.
• The propaganda network Storm-1516, linked to Russian intelligence, also spread false claims about President Macron earlier this year.

PARIS - France suspects Russia has sought to spread fake stories about two top French politicians running or likely to run in 2027’s presidential elections, a security source and one of the politicians have said.

French authorities last week detected a disinformation campaign targeting Raphael Glucksmann, a left-wing member of the European Parliament and vocal Kremlin critic expected to run for France’s top job in 2027, a source within the security services told AFP on Aug 4.

The effort was traced to propaganda network Storm-1516, which has been linked to Russian intelligence, the source said, asking to remain anonymous because they were not authorised to speak to the press.

“The Russian security services have begun their operations to destabilise the 2027 election campaign,” Glucksmann wrote on social media on the night of Aug 3.

The fabricated story – claiming a plot to boost his candidacy – appeared on a website imitating the legitimate online outlet Blast and included false documents, reproduced voices using AI and a “completely fake video”, he said.

“The aim is to make a complete lie go viral to smear figures considered hostile by the Russian regime,” said Glucksmann, who has repeatedly spoken out against Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

France’s far right is eyeing its best chance yet at winning the elections in 2027, with Marine Le Pen vying for the Elysee for a fourth time despite a fraud conviction.

Storm-1516 in July also targeted presidential candidate Edouard Philippe, a centrist ex-prime minister thought to be the most able to take on the far right, through social media posts spreading false information about his health, the security source has said.

It is also suspected of being linked to an effort detected in February to spread false claims linking President Emmanuel Macron to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. AFP