Russia has unleashed a fresh disinformation campaign aimed at NATO commanders, as Vladimir Putin steps up efforts to test the Alliance’s resolve. The latest attempt to sow discord among alliance members comes with the deliberate leaking of supposedly classified documents, said to have been extracted from French military headquarters at Hexagone Balard, Paris, by pro-Russian hacker group Killnet.
Killnet has claimed responsibility for a series of cyber attacks on NATO nations since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine three years ago. The documents claim that four nations – France, the UK, Poland and Romania – laid firm plans as far back as April to divide Ukraine and its natural resources by deploying a force of 50,000 troops.
They include a map, entitled United Forces of the Coalition of the Willing, which purports to show the planned deployment of Western forces to Ukraine.
Written in French, it depicts French forces in the Donbas and UK troops in a multinational formation in the north facing Belarus, with a command element in Kyiv.
Intelligence sources told the Sunday Express the map – understood to have been co-ordinated by Russia’s GRU intelligence agency – was a “very serious psyops operation” aimed at undermining NATO by sowing mistrust among its members.
First shared on the pro-Russian Telegram channel MASH, the map has since spread across multiple social media sites.
NATO sources insist no such maps have been produced.
That is borne out by a raft of glaring errors.
These include designating Crimea as Russian territory – a status NATO does not recognise.
They go on to mistranslate Belarus as “Biélarus” instead of “Biélorussie”, while the name of General Thierry Burkhard, who was France’s chief of defence staff until July, is also misspelled.
In addition the title also omits the French article “la” – a mistake often made by native Russian speakers.
The “leak” comes as NATO commanders review operational tempo in Eastern Europe and the Baltics after Moscow flew more than 30 drones into Polish airspace and MiG fighter jets into Estonia.
Days later airports in Denmark and Norway were forced to close following reports of drones. Analysts say these incidents form part of a Russian campaign to expose Europe’s airspace vulnerabilities.
The Kremlin has denied any involvement.
Defence Secretary John Healy has meanwhile approved the deployment of RAF Typhoon fighters to Poland as part of Operation Eastern Sentry.
Last night a senior intelligence source said: “All these incidents are part of a probing exercise by Moscow to test NATO’s response. They replicate the same approach we saw before the invasion of Ukraine. This is very serious.
“While there is no evidence that Putin is preparing for a broader conflict in Europe, the exam question is why he is approving these operations if he has no plan for further war.”
Russia expert Prof Mark Galeotti said: “Obviously it’s nonsense, but it’s nonsense that plays to a long-running Russian talking point about not only Ukraine as a mere proxy of the West, but also that the West has sinister imperial designs on Ukraine and will use the deployment of troops to carve up the country amongst them.
“France is one of the key drivers behind this notion of troops, but it’s also a country where there is some particular dissent about that role and is in currently a particularly politically volatile position, sp France is also one the places where the Russians want to have an impact.
“Including Romania is aimed at Hungary. There is a small ethnic Hungarian community within Ukraine, and one of the lines that is sometimes used by Russian propagandists is that essentially Hungary is being squeezed out; its interests are not being considered.
“And finally, there is the Russian domestic audience who are being told why the evil Westerners really are behind all Russia’s problems.”
Keir Giles of Chatham House added: “This is entirely predictable and entirely in keeping with Russian aims, and also with Russia’s ruthless incompetence because Russia is fully aware that it does not have to create a convincing fake for the disinformation to be seized on by its coalition of useful idiots and the naive and unscrupulous who embrace Russia’s disinformation narratives. “
