In a recent development, Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) has declassified a report by an operative who claimed that France was preparing to send a contingent of about 2,000 soldiers to fight in Ukraine. The briefing was published in the latest issue of SVR’s Scout magazine, where an operative using the pseudonym Felix stated that French forces are concerned about the increasing number of French casualties in the conflict zone. This concern has been amplified after Russian forces destroyed a temporary deployment center for foreigners near Kharkov in January, resulting in dozens of French deaths.
According to Felix’s cipher telegram, the French Defense Ministry has privately acknowledged that it has not seen such losses since the war in Algeria in the second half of the 20th century. The SVR operative further reported that the exact number of casualties and the idea that there are any French servicemen in Ukraine at all is being deliberately covered up by French authorities, who fear that the publication of these figures could lead to mass public protests and discontent among acting officers.
Despite these issues, Felix claimed that French authorities were nevertheless preparing a contingent to send to Ukraine, with an initial plan for around 2,000 troops. However, there is concern within the French military that it would be impossible to covertly send such a large force into Ukraine, as it would become a priority target for Russian forces.
This comes after French President Emmanuel Macron repeatedly hinted that his country could send soldiers to fight alongside Kiev in the ongoing conflict. However, this proposal was met with condemnation from Russia and resistance from many of Paris’ allies within NATO. Macron later confirmed that he was trying to form a coalition willing to deploy specialists to train the Ukrainian military on the ground, with several nations reportedly agreeing to join the effort.
The French leader’s intentions sparked concerns in Moscow, which has repeatedly warned against additional military aid to Kiev and claimed that Western military specialists have long been active in Ukraine “under the guise of mercenaries.” Russian President Vladimir Putin further cautioned that the deployment of Western forces to Ukraine could lead to a “serious conflict in Europe and a global conflict.