Covert Russian network uses France’s riots to paint Macron’s government as weak. Same operation targets support for Ukraine — Reuters
Operation Overload spread videos posing as Western media, but pro-Russian posts drew 2.8 million views.
A covert Russian network, known as Operation Overload, exploited recent riots in France to portray the government as weak and overstretched by immigration. The Russian initiative spread fabricated videos impersonating Western media outlets to French audiences, according to an internal EU assessment disclosed by Reuters. The same operation aims to undermine European support for Ukraine by suggesting it diverts domestic resources.
France, under President Emmanuel Macron, has supplied significant military, financial, and diplomatic aid to Ukraine. Since September 2023, Operation Overload has masqueraded as Western media and public figures. Some videos falsely claimed migrants had assaulted protesters or predicted terrorist attacks, portraying French leadership as weak and increasingly authoritarian.
The EU's analysis found no evidence that Russia instigated or intensified the protests, stating it was merely exploiting the unrest opportunistically. The restriction document noted that such occurrences enable the undermining of national governments, the spread of fear and division, and the manipulation of public opinion ahead of elections.
A separate evaluation by France's Foreign Ministry, also obtained by Reuters, revealed that accounts associated with Israel and the US MAGA movement propagated hostile narratives about the riots, attributing them to radical Islamism and migration. The 10 most-viewed posts on X from "pro-Russian spheres" garnered 2.8 million views between October 16 and 18, whereas MAGA-linked accounts garnered over 49 million and Israeli-linked accounts over 35 million during the same timeframe.
Reuters could not independently validate either report. Elina Treyger, a senior political scientist at the RAND Corporation, stated that such campaigns conduct a gradual "narrative competition" that can alter how Western democracies are seen and incite anti-immigrant sentiment, steering European voters towards political extremes.
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