Gabriel Attal, France’s former prime minister and Renaissance party leader, has been targeted by “foreign interference originating in Russia”, in the latest in a series of Kremlin‑linked operations aimed at destabilising the 2027 presidential election.
Attal’s entourage told French press agency AFP on Wednesday that the SGDSN, France’s national defence and security secretariat, had alerted them to interference “linked to organs of the Russian central authorities”.
The operation was described by a security source as “low‑visibility”, with only a few thousand views, and was not presented as a direct hacking of Attal’s personal devices but rather as part of a broader disinformation campaign.
The disclosure comes weeks after similar alerts involving other potential contenders.
In late July, former prime minister Edouard Philippe, a declared 2027 candidate, was targeted by the pro‑Russian network Storm‑1516 with false claims about his health, in what a security source, talking to AFP, called the first such operation against a French presidential hopeful.
Days later, Socialist MEP Raphael Glucksmann said the SGDSN had informed him that he too was the target of a Storm‑1516 operation “directly run by the GRU”, Russia’s military intelligence, using fake audio and text to suggest improper ties between his partner, journalist Léa Salamé, and media figure Edwy Plenel.
French authorities have repeatedly warned that the April 2027 presidential vote will be a prime target for foreign digital interference.
Viginum, the state’s digital‑interference monitoring service under the SGDSN, documented four foreign interference operations during the March 2026 municipal elections, two of them attributed to known pro‑Russian actors including Storm‑1516
Glucksmann has warned that the 2027 campaign “will be marked by massive interference”, with Moscow seeking to “make France tip” and “implode the European bloc” by targeting pro‑European candidates.
(with newswires)
