“By all means and at all times, these countries are trying to weaken democracies,” assures the author of a report on Russian interference in France.

A CNRS report denounces Russian interference, particularly in the French legislative elections. David Chavalarias, author of this study, answers questions from franceinfo.

Is Russia directly interfering in the legislative elections in France? This is what a CNRS study denounces, analyzing millions of publications on the Internet and on social networks going back several years. The report concludes that Moscow is indeed behind attempts to destabilize the vote, a “convergence of interests between the Putin regime and the French far right” For ““destabilize French society.” A “low noise strategy”explains the report’s author, David Chavalarias.

franceinfo: Can you describe to us how these attempts at destabilization actually take place, and through what actions?

David Chavalarias: It is important to know that there are multiple actions, because it is a question of using all possible channels. There are interventions on social networks, targeted advertising… There is also the creation of fake accounts that will campaign for causes that are in favor of the Kremlin or try to discredit parties that are hostile to the Kremlin. Physical actions on the territory are also possible: we remember, for example, the tags of the Stars of David or the red hands on the Shoah Memorial that tried to increase the perception of anti-Semitism. And then, there is a whole operation on the digital environment in general, such as, for example, the creation of fake sites.

Beyond the destabilization that is suspected on the part of Moscow, what is the objective pursued by the Kremlin?

The goal is quite clear, it was announced by Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation last February on his channel Telegram. It is about promoting the accession to power of anti-system parties that would be favorable to its regime by all official and secret means, in particular because European democracies are in conflict with Russia – through sanctions through the Ukrainian conflict. In general, European democracies are an existential risk for countries like Russia, because they are free countries and Russia is a so-called closed society. It would therefore be necessary to avoid the contagion of a wind of freedom to this kind of country. By all means, in times of peace or war, this kind of country tries to weaken democracies.

Does it work? Were you able to quantify it in your study?

It works in the sense that there are visible effects on the French information space, which are obviously multifactorial. But we see that the Kremlin’s actions pay off in a certain way. What we have to see is that there is a combination of long-term action – where we will try to raise a perception in French opinion, for example, that government parties are unsavoury, like LFI -, combined with short-term actions at the time of elections.