Russian propaganda spread fake covers of French newspapers with criticism of Zelensky
Russian propagandists have circulated fake covers of French newspapers in an attempt to create the impression that Western media outlets are criticising Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. This was reported by the Centre for Countering Disinformation.
In particular, in one of the programmes on Russia's Channel One, the host claimed that two leading French publications, Libération and Le Parisien, had allegedly criticised Zelensky for his "inability to negotiate." To this end, fake front pages of newspapers with corresponding headlines were shown on air.
The Centre for Countering Disinformation emphasised that in reality, none of these publications had published such materials. The front pages of the 27 January issues of Libération and Le Parisien featured completely different topics. The fake covers were created by replacing the central image and headline, while the fonts, subheadings, publication details and overall layout were copied entirely from the originals.
Another characteristic feature of the disinformation is that the fake covers first appeared not in the French information space, but on Russian Telegram channels.
The CDD notes that the goal of this information attack is to create the illusion of Western disappointment with Ukraine and to impose a narrative of "European fatigue" by exploiting trust in authoritative Western media.
The Centre for Countering Disinformation has previously recorded numerous cases of Russian propaganda using tactics to imitate the style and visual identity of well-known Western information resources to spread fakes.
Russian propaganda, fake news, French media, Zelensky, Centre for Countering Disinformation, war
