French authorities have dismantled a website discovered to be promoting a counterfeit recruitment campaign for French volunteers to participate in the conflict in Ukraine, the defence ministry confirmed on Thursday.
The website, now inaccessible, purportedly invited 200,000 French citizens to enlist in Ukraine, with immigrants being given priority for recruitment. The defence ministry, resembling the French army’s authentic recruitment portal, was posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, according to sources.
Describing the site as a fake government site, the ministry stated that it had been reposted by malicious accounts as part of a broader disinformation effort. Although no suspects were named, government sources suggested that the site bore the hallmarks of a Russian or pro-Russian initiative aimed at spreading misinformation, falsely implying that the French army was preparing to deploy troops to Ukraine.
French President Emmanuel Macron’s recent stance on the conflict, which included not ruling out the possibility of sending ground troops and advocating for European support against Russian aggression, drew criticism from Russian authorities. The French government has observed similar instances of disinformation, such as the misrepresentation of French army convoys as moving towards the Ukrainian border.
The fraudulent website encouraged potential recruits to contact “unit commander Paul” for further details on enlistment. Investigations into the website’s origins and intentions are ongoing, with the defence ministry and government cyber units actively involved.
