A possible new Russian destabilization operation. According to information from Chained duck revealed this Wednesday, May 22, confirmed by France info, the red hands sprayed on the night of May 13 to 14 on the Wall of the Righteous, at the Shoah Memorial, could be the work of the Kremlin. This is the lead favored by investigators from the Paris police headquarters. CCTV cameras filmed the scene, showing, around three a.m., three men equipped with spray paint and stencils. The group of graffiti artists – all of Bulgarian origin – then went to a Parisian hotel, in the 20th arrondissement, then to the Bercy bus station in order to travel to Belgium, the public prosecutor said on Wednesday. “The investigations also established that the reservations had been made from Bulgaria,” added the prosecution, without specifying further, at this stage, the content of these reservations.
The modus operandi evokes the affair of the Stars of David painted on October 27, again in Paris. A Moldovan couple was then arrested and the sponsor – a pro-Russian Moldovan businessman – identified. A few months later, in February, a confidential note revealed by THE World emanating of the French domestic intelligence services (DGSI) assured that the operation had been led by the “5th department”, the service responsible for international operations of the FSB, the Russian intelligence agency. In this context, the DGSI called on French law enforcement to report “all weak signals” of interference by Russia. Professor at Sciences Po Paris and specialist in the history of propaganda and mass manipulation, David Colon analyzes the reasons for this possible Russian interference, author of Information Warfare (Ed. Tallandier).
L’Express: In the case of the red hands sprayed on the Shoah Memorial, the Russian lead is favored by investigators. Does this surprise you?
David Colon: This affair resembles the Stars of David operation, which was sponsored by the Kremlin, organized by two Russian intelligence services – the GRU and the FSB – and carried out by a team of Moldovan thugs. .
The Kremlin has been extending its aggression against Ukraine since 2022 with an information war against the country and its supporters. In a long message broadcast on Telegram messaging on February 3, former Russian President Dmitri Medvedev called for “support in every possible way” the “anti-system” parties by “helping them apertum and secretum“, that is to say openly and secretly, in order to obtain decent results in the elections. There is therefore clearly coordination at the Kremlin level. The recent reshuffles in Moscow demonstrate a desire by those in power to tighten its control over Russian security organs to wage all-out war The recent actions carried out in Paris are part of a broader context of the weakening of France before the Olympic Games and the European elections. hybrid war operations the likes of which have rarely been seen in France, at least not since the Cold War.
Is this modus operandi new to the Russian secret services?
No way. The USSR carried out Operation Swastika in Germany between 1957 and 1960, in order to give the impression of a resurgence of Nazism and anti-Semitism in the country. There is therefore nothing new in these practices. What is new, however, is the impact that such campaigns can have, and their speed of propagation. In the case of the red hands as in that of the Stars of David, the goal was most likely to attract the attention of the French media so that they reported on these tags by encouraging the perception of their anti-Semitic character. Once the Russian operation is revealed, this operation could contribute to the creation of doubt as to the reality of authentic anti-Semitic acts. Beyond their relatively low cost and rudimentary nature, these operations are therefore relatively sophisticated. Those who design them are aware of the characteristics of information production in a country like ours, and manage to hack the public debate, to act on the perception of the French.
We must keep in mind that Russia has a long tradition of manipulating international public operations. Think of Potemkin. The Tsar’s secret police were also behind one of the largest anti-Semitic plots of its kind, the false “Protocol of the Elders of Zion”. Anti-Semitism was one of Stalin’s central propaganda elements, and is again with Vladimir Putin. Putin who, let us remember, publicly attacks President Zelensky by accusing him of being a Nazi Jew. The Kremlin contributes to amplifying anti-Semitism, whether on social networks or in Western media. One of its objectives is to weaken the ability of our fellow citizens to perceive reality – in this case the increase in anti-Semitic acts.
Is France particularly vulnerable to this type of attack?
Since the fall of 2022, we have known, thanks to leaks, that the Kremlin is working to reorganize its intelligence services to better coordinate its action, and organize subversion actions in countries that support Ukraine. We also know that France is considered particularly permeable to these stories. Our compatriots are more favorable to Putin and have less trust in the media than in other OECD countries. France is therefore a privileged target. Currently, four major digital operations are underway: operation Döppleganger, already officially denounced by France, operation Portal Kombat, again denounced by France, operation Copycop, recently identified, and finally operation False façade , also recently identified by the services of the European Union. These are four major manipulation operations.
Added to this are destabilization operations in our overseas departments carried out by a multitude of state and non-state actors. Take New Caledonia for example: the archipelago is notably the target of Azerbaijan, which through Baku’s initiative is encouraging the independence movement to launch its actions. There is also the People’s Republic of China which is extremely influential in the information space. Turkey, too, which carries out operations of this type… And obviously Russia, with a Kremlin which seizes every opportunity.
The action of Kremlin propagandists is quite opportunistic: they rely on existing social conflicts to accelerate their scope, perception and effects. The goal is to weaken the information space to the point of depriving our fellow citizens of distinguishing truth from falsehood. Marc Bloch said it first in The strange defeat, when he examines the reasons for the French defeat in 1940. Evoking his fellow citizens, he asks himself: “What have we done to provide him with this minimum of clear and reliable information, without which no rational conduct is possible ?” And he answers: “Nothing, really.” In information warfare, victory goes to the one who deprives his opponent of the ability to act.
What can we do to avoid repeating the same mistakes? How should the media approach operations similar to those of the Blue Stars of David or the Red Hands?
We can see that the French editorial staff showed more circumspection about the red hands than they had about the Stars of David. The public denunciation of these acts by Viginum – the technical and operational service of the State responsible for vigilance against foreign digital interference – of Russian interference in October helped to attenuate the media effects of this new operation. That being said, the experience of the media outbursts of October and this month should encourage the editors-in-chief to be more circumspect, in the future, with regard to this type of action likely to involve interference operations. There is a need to train editorial staff in the tactics used by the propagandists of authoritarian regimes, starting with the Russian regime. Faced with the manipulation of information, we collectively have an interest in promoting awareness among journalists and the general public.
In this case, how to proceed?
Destabilization operations are expected to intensify as the elections and the Olympics approach. This must lead us to adopt a spirit of informational defense to anticipate possible destabilizing operations and to protect ourselves against their most damaging effects. We can draw inspiration from what has been done in Finland, Taiwan and Estonia, countries exposed to attacks by authoritarian regimes, which has led them to greater resilience.
To do this, they are counting on the mobilization of civil society, particularly via state structures, but also and above all, thanks to NGOs dedicated to immunizing society against these manipulations. France has made considerable progress with Viginium, but we could draw inspiration from initiatives like that of Sweden, which created an Agency for Psychological Defense in 2022. The latter must make it possible to fight against disinformation which undermines national, but also European, civic bases. The threat is also global: this fall, the blue stars of David were also spotted in Germany. The four operations cited above have in common that they affect half a dozen Western countries at the same time. Democratic states must coordinate their detection capabilities.
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