Russian propaganda spreading fake about France's intention to use nuclear weapons against Russian army

Pro-Russian Telegram channels are sharing a video with part of footage from France's Le Figaro. The post notes that there was allegedly a discussion of "the use of French nuclear weapons against the Russian Federation" in Ukraine, the reason for which was a tweet by Mounir Belhamiti, a member of the French National Assembly from the pro-presidential Renaissance party. In a post on X, he allegedly supported French President Emmanuel Macron's decision to defeat Russian troops in Ukraine with nuclear weapons and believes that "it's only a matter of time."

This is a fake. The propagandists point out that the tweet was made on June 13, 2024, but Mounir Belhamiti did not make such posts on that day.

Fragments of various videos and the "tweet" created with the help of graphic editors were used in the fake video.

A fragment of the video with experts was taken from a program published on June 12, 2024 - the day before Mounir Belhamiti supposedly published his post.

A fragment of the video with Macron also has nothing to do with the Le Figaro video or the war in Ukraine. This is footage from the French president's press conference regarding his decision to dissolve parliament.

On April 28, 2024, Macron said he was ready to discuss the use of French nuclear weapons as part of a "reliable European defense" amid threats from Russia. According to the news outlet Politico, in this way, Macron started a "nuclear discussion" among France's European allies and the expansion of the "nuclear umbrella" to all of the EU to prevent Russia's invasion of Europe. However, these statements concern only the EU countries, rather than Ukraine.

Not all EU members are currently ready for this, with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz opposing the creation of "EU nuclear weapons."

Andriy Olenin