France has already taken the first steps to protect its critical infrastructure against Russia's "hybrid war." Last Thursday, one day before the emergency meeting called by Emmanuel Macron with opposition leaders, the Minister of the Interior, Laurent Núñez, brought together all the prefects and announced the preparation of a plan to protect against threats from drones and cyber attacks the most sensitive sites of industrial and technological defense, as well as vital facilities for energy, telecommunications, transportation and water supply.
"We are talking about a threat that is real and well documented, of a hybrid war championed by Russia," Núñez declared this week to the BFMTV channel, which dedicated a large space this Thursday, along with other French media, to the EL MUNDO exclusive under the title: "A Russian attack against France? CIA alert."
"The majority of the Intelligence services of European countries, and of course the French Intelligence services, have identified the characteristics of this hybrid war," added Núñez, who cited the failed attack with a drone loaded with explosives at the German airport in Leipzig as the most recent example. "The operators (energy, transport and telecommunications) are already taking protective measures, have reinforced their patrols and are in contact with our Intelligence services."
Núñez assured that France has not yet been flown over by Russian drones, but he attributed cyberattacks to Moscow, such as the disruption of postal service package delivery last Christmas or the fraudulent extraction of personal information from state data banks. When asked about possible Russian intervention in the accident of a regional train in Normandy on September 11, the Minister of the Interior acknowledged that "no possibility has been ruled out."
The urgency with which Emmanuel Macron has wanted to address the issue of "hybrid war" is directly related to a report by the Intelligence services last August, warning about how Russia has accelerated its plans to launch attacks on European countries by 2027, with energy plants, railways, telecommunications and water supply as "potential targets" (the French authorities are in fact planning a total blackout simulation in 2027 as part of the preparation for the attacks hybrids).
Macron, who is entering the final stretch of his mandate as the second most unpopular president of the Fifth Republic (surpassed only by François Hollande), is determined to spread this "urgency" to European leaders, and in this context it is possible to place his official trip to Spain next week, in which the scope of the "Russian threat" for the two countries will be addressed. The French president is convinced that Putin's goal is to intimidate European countries and weaken his Coalition of the Willing. "But our position is clear," he stressed at the press conference after his meeting with the leaders. "Support for Ukraine is more than ever indispensable because it is the condition of our own security."
The leader of La France Insoumise, Jean Luc-Mélenchon, accused of complacency with Putin in the recent past, has curiously turned Macron's reasoning around in the middle of the 2027 Presidential campaign: "No one seems to be worried about why the threat from Russia seems bigger today than it was some time ago. Why? Maybe we have to ask ourselves if it has nothing to do with deep shots from Ukraine."
Mélenchon was criticized by most presidential candidates for establishing this unusual link between Ukraine's attacks on Russian soil and Russia's growing threat to other European countries: "Who can imagine that a country would let its capital be attacked and not provide any response to that situation?" Hours later, the rebellious leader was forced to remember on the networks that his party condemned the invasion of Ukraine and that it demands the withdrawal of Russia and a diplomatic solution after four years of war.
Putin's recent decision to confiscate the businesses and assets of Nestlé and three other French groups has also led to the entry into the debate of Marine Le Pen, the leader of the National Rally and favorite in the polls. Also pursued by the shadow of collusion with Moscow, Le Pen and her dolphin, Jordan Bardella, distanced themselves last Saturday with a joint statement ensuring that Russia "cannot directly dictate France's policies through intimidation, threats, destabilization or psychological pressure."
"No provocation, clandestine operation or destabilization action will be able to push France to facilitate Russia's objectives in the war in Ukraine," concluded the statement with which Le Pen has distanced herself from Moscow like never before, amid growing concern about "Russian interference" in the presidential elections (supposedly favoring the far-right candidates of the National Rally).
The French Government approved a new bill in July to toughen penalties against the crime of "foreign interference" in the 2027 presidential and legislative elections, following constant reports of cyberattacks and disinformation campaigns in local elections held this year. The National Assembly has already taken action on the matter with a first law in 2024 and with the creation of the cyber surveillance organization Viginum.
The Viginum system warned precisely in the middle of summer that former prime minister and centrist candidate Gabriel Attal had been the victim of a "disinformation operation" orchestrated by the pro-Russian Matriochka network (as were also candidates Edouard Philippe and Raphaël Glucksman). "For me it is not a surprise, because we expected these destabilization maneuvers," Attal declared. "If we do nothing to protect ourselves from them, these elections can be distorted and stolen from the French people," he added.
"Russian hostile acts"
"Russia's hostile acts are multiplying and that is why we must be realistic about the evolution of the threat," Emmanuel Macron acknowledged this Thursday in an interview on Tf1 news. When asked if an attempted drone attack like the one at Leipzig airport would be possible in France, Macron did not hesitate to say that "the answer is yes."
"Russia considers Europe as the strategic depth of Ukraine," added the French president. "We have been attacked on all fronts for years. Tension has increased in recent weeks (...) In recent days we have summoned all the prefects, and region by region we are strengthening the protection of civil and military installations."
Macron assured, however, that the CIA has not transmitted to the French intelligence services an alert about the possible drone attack from ships stationed in the Mediterranean. "I can deny that information," he said at the start of the interview.
Elysée sources confirmed that European security and hybrid attacks by Russia will figure in Macron's meeting with Pedro Sánchez, although they did not go into details about the CIA alert about possible drone attacks from ships stationed in the Mediterranean.
