Russia: Parliament adopted a resolution condemning the presence of French “mercenaries” in Ukraine

Another step against French fighters. This Wednesday, Russian MPs voted in favor of a resolution condemning the alleged presence of French “mercenaries” fighting for Kyiv in Ukraine.

“It is regrettable that the French authorities, who together with our country were once one of the initiators of military-political detente in Europe, by their actions are prolonging the agony of the Nazi regime in Kiev,” says the resolution of Russian deputies addressed to the French National Assembly.

The text, echoing the Kremlin’s narrative of presenting the conflict in Ukraine as a continuation of the war against Hitler, was published on the website of the Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament. “Who are we dealing with when we talk about France and the French? The ideological heirs of the legendary French President and General de Gaulle (…)? Or supporters of the collaborator and criminal Marshal Pétain (…)? »

France condemns ‘gross manipulation’

On January 17, the Russian army said it had destroyed a building in Kharkov (northeast) housing “mercenaries, most of whom were French citizens.” Sixty militants were “destroyed” and 20 were wounded, Moscow said at the time. The pro-Russian French group SOS Donbass then published a list of the names of 13 “French mercenaries” who were in Kharkov at the time of the strike. Another list of 30 names is also being circulated on Telegram.

“We insist that we have reliable information indicating that (…) French mercenaries are in Ukraine,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday, calling on the French authorities to “take care” of their citizens.

As soon as the Russian army’s statement was made, the French Foreign Ministry denied and condemned the “new gross Russian manipulation”, emphasizing that France does not have ” mercenariesneither in Ukraine nor anywhere else.” According to a French military source interviewed by AFP, about a hundred French fighters are now in Ukraine, some of them close to far-right movements. Paris does not deny their presence in the ranks of the Ukrainian army, but rejects the term “mercenaries” and the Russian implication that France is involved in their recruitment.

New promises to help Kyiv

According to a French diplomatic source, some of the identities included in the Russian lists are also false. And there remains doubt that the French died as a result of this strike. “A priori, not a single Frenchman was killed in Kharkov” last week, commented a source in the French security services.

According to a Kyiv security expert familiar with several French members of the Ukrainian International Legion, there are “not many of them” in Ukraine and they are “distributed among several units.” “The people I know are all alive. They have not heard of any injuries,” he told AFP in Kharkiv, confirming he had been in contact with some of them after the Russian strike.

Facing Russian accusations of manipulating information, the French ambassador in Moscow was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry on Friday, where he was criticized for Paris’s “growing involvement in the conflict in Ukraine.” The accusations of “mercenaryism” come as France has increased its arms pledges to Ukraine in recent weeks and is preparing to strike a security deal with Kiev.