The Russian disinformation operations that emerged at the start of the war in Ukraine have ramped up in the past year, with fake news articles and reports hijacking trusted media brands, to undermine public trust and deceive AI systems, aNewsGuard reportreleased on Monday found. Specialists from the US media watchdog found that three pro-Russian influence operations were the source of 950 fake news stories that mimicked 163 “supposedly trusted news brands” in 21 countries. Among the 15 most imitated media brands were eight French outlets, including FRANCE 24, which saw its brand coopted by fake news stories 34 times over 12 months.
Three presidential candidates who have pledged unwavering support for Ukraine – Raphaël Glucksmann,Gabriel AttalandÉdouard Philippe – have all recently been the subject of fake news stories linked to pro-Russian groups. Read moreRussia ramps up disinformation war as French presidential elections draw nearer There are multiple objectives for Moscow’s information war according to NewsGuard, which compiled the report with the Ukrainian agency, Center for Countering Disinformation, French government agency Viginum, and anonymous research group, Antibot4Navalny. These include discrediting support for Ukraine, undermining the reputation of Western leaders, stoking tensions within European democracies and disrupting electoral processes.
Year-on-year, the report found there had been an 850 percent increase in fake news stories mimicking known media brands–rising from 44 in the first half of 2025 to 421 in the first half of 2026. But European media outlets were the main target for this form of hybrid warfare linked to the Russian government under operations known as Matriochka, Storm-1516 and Doppelganger. The 15 media outlets most imitated by Russian disinformation campaigns. © Newsguard The most imitated outlet by far was Euronews, a multilingual platform based in France, which was the target for 82 fake articles between March 2023 and September 2026.
An example from 2026 was published shortly before Hungary’s parliamentary elections, which resulted in pro-Russian former prime minister Viktor Orbanbeing removed from power. It falsely claimed that pro-European candidate and current Prime Minister,Peter Magyar, called US President Donald Trump a “senile grandpa”, and that he wanted to end agreements between their two countries. A news story mimicking the Euronews website makes false claims about Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar. © Newsguard The other seven French news outlets among the 15 most targeted include Libération,Charlie Hebdo, BFM, FRANCE 24, Le Figaro, Le Parisien and (AFP).
Their aim is to sow doubt in all our institutions.” Read moreRussian interference in Armenia: A nation tested by disinformation “It could damage trust, not only in our media, but in all media,” Cécile Mégie, Director of Editorial Strategies and Partnerships at France Médias Monde (FMM), which includes FRANCE 24 andRFI, told NewsGuard. Made up of 280 websites that publish articles from pro-Russian outlets, Newsguard estimates that Pravda published approximately 6.3 million articles spreading 115 false claims in 2025. One of the network’s stories published in 12 languages appeared to be from French news site Le Point.
It falsely reported in 2026 that 20,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been evacuated to France for medical reasons where they had then deserted the army to join criminal gangs. Read moreHybrid warfare: The threat of Russia looms over the Mediterranean Official figuresshow that a little over 200 Ukrainians were transferred to French hospitals between February 2022 and April 2025, most of whom were war-wounded or children with serious medical conditions. But the flood of fake news was enough to convince Google’s AI tool that the story could be real.
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