Europe 1 with AFP / Photo credit: MAXIME GRUSS / HANS LUCAS / HANS LUCAS VIA AFP 6:24 p.m., February 20, 2024

This Tuesday, according to an internal memo of which AFP was aware, French Minister of the Armed Forces Sébastien Lecornu called for the strengthening of security measures in the face of threats of Russian "sabotage and cyberattack" which are targeting his ministry "first and foremost" .

French Minister of the Armed Forces Sébastien Lecornu called on Tuesday for the strengthening of security measures in the face of threats of Russian "sabotage and cyberattack" which target his ministry "first and foremost", according to an internal memo of which AFP was aware. "Since the invasion of Ukraine, the Russian Federation has entered into a balance of power with France and its partners by carrying out, below the threshold of escalation, hybrid interference operations. These attacks concern the Ministry of the Armed Forces in the first place", according to this note.

“The signing of a security agreement between France and Ukraine risks leading Russia to toughen up these operations to increase its influence, discredit our action and weaken our national cohesion,” underlines Sébastien Lecornu.

“Reduce vulnerabilities”

French President Emmanuel Macron and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky signed a bilateral security agreement in Paris on Friday intended to guarantee long-term civil and military support for Ukraine, at war with Russia for two years. In his note, Sébastien Lecornu calls for measures to “reduce vulnerabilities in the face of subversive actions that could affect our staff, our infrastructure, our teams or even our activities”.

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The minister mentions in particular "threats of sabotage and cyberattack which can weigh on staff and their family environment, installations, information systems and networks". Awareness of these risks should also target "public establishments under supervision, operators of vital importance and service providers, which work with the Ministry of the Armed Forces and may constitute targets for Russia, in particular the defense industries network", adds -he. France revealed on February 12 the existence of a “structured and coordinated” network of sites disseminating Russian propaganda in Europe and the United States.