Fakes about recruiting French people for war in Ukraine spread in French-language social networks
Against the backdrop of statements by French President Emmanuel Macron that sending French troops to Ukraine in the future cannot be ruled out, Russian propaganda has spread two video fakes about the alleged appeals to French people to join the International Legion for Defence of Ukraine.
The first video, distributed in Russian and pro-Russian English-language media, as well as in the French-language segment of Telegram and X social network, addresses representatives of the French Foreign Legion. The video has watermarks with the symbols of the Special Forces Brigade Azov, and the authors of the publications claim that the video was allegedly created by the PR team of Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense.
This is a fake. There is no such video on the websites or social media accounts of either the Azov Brigade or Ukraine's Ministry of Defense.
The fake video is a compilation of various videos that can be found on the Internet. To create the fake, the propagandists used a three-year-old video from the YouTube channel of famous French military officer Gérald Michiara, better known as Major Gerald.
The propagandists also used videos of various Ukrainian and French military personnel, which can be found in patriotic cuts.
The second video, distributed by Russian propaganda in the French-speaking segment of social network such as Telegram and X, is a video made as a YouTube ad showing women dancing in yellow and blue colors. The video is subtitled in French with the caption "Ukrainian women want your help. Join the brave!" Moreover, in the lower left corner is a link to the official website of the International Legion for Defense of Ukraine.
There is no such video on the official website or social media accounts of the International Legion. In addition, the fake video has a different design for the ad insert on YouTube than the authentic version. Moreover, when you select the French version of YouTube, the word "sponsorisé" appears instead of "ads" and "ignorer" instead of "skip," while in the fake video, "publicité" appears instead of "sponsorisé" and "sauter" appears instead of "ignorer.
Judging by the official Facebook page of the International Legion for Defense of Ukraine, the slogan "Join the Brave" is indeed used to recruit new members. There is even an ad with this slogan, but it looks completely different from the one created by propagandists.
The International Legion also focuses on the personal stories of individual fighters in its coverage of its activities.
Earlier, Russian propaganda spread the fake about a military corps allegedly being formed in Poland to take part in the war in Ukraine.
Andriy Olenin
