“Operation Matryoshka”. Russia Launches Harsh Offensive Against France and Germany with Fakes and Staged Events Ahead of Elections
Russia is working intensely on a new disinformation and influence campaign for the German regional elections this autumn, hoping to gain another important pawn for its informational warfare plans against Europe. That pawn is the extremist party AfD, which polls indicate is favored to form the new federal government in the state of Saxony-Anhalt after the regional elections. The Russians have not given up on France either, where they hope for the victory of an extremist candidate who would bring the country into the pro-Russian camp.
The Financial Times writes that Russia is using American MAGA social media users to amplify disinformation and influence messages, according to security officials.
The tactic relies on posts written in English, which are then disseminated on platforms like Elon Musk's Twitter. Their purpose is to influence German voters to support the extremist party Alternative for Germany.
This is a different tactic used by the Russians to influence German elections. In the past, the Kremlin directly targeted the German public.
Germany is not the only target, but France is as well. Recently, three candidates in the upcoming French presidential elections were directly targeted by Russians in disinformation and defamation campaigns. These include former Macronist prime ministers Gabriel Attal and Edouard Philippe, and Raphael Glucksmann, a potential candidate for the moderate left.
Viginum, the French agency for combating online disinformation, confirmed that it identified an operation against Attal and attributed it, "with a high degree of confidence," to "pro-Russian" disinformation tactics.
Operation “Matryoshka”
Voters in the eastern German state of Saxony-Anhalt are set to elect their representatives on September 6. Recent polls give the pro-Russian extremists of the AfD as favorites. They are expected to gather more than 41 percent of the votes and become the largest party in the state legislature.
German security and intelligence agencies say they have observed a sharp increase in Russian interference efforts since June.
Officials told the FT that Operation “Matryoshka” aims to discredit mainstream politicians by spreading defamatory information related to sexual affairs or corruption allegations.
Through Operation Matryoshka, Russians are flooding social platforms with fake video clips featuring the logos of traditional media organizations and presenters who appear to be from those outlets.
Fake "reports" or "news" are then presented, targeting politicians from traditional parties, as well as politicians from extremist parties like AfD or BSW.
The fake materials include accusations of pedophilia, sexual assault, or corruption. So far, German officials have discovered over a hundred such clips.
The materials are professionally produced and claim to originate from well-known media organizations, such as the German public broadcaster ARD or the BBC.
They also attract attention because they are almost entirely in English, which, according to German officials, indicates a new and more insidious approach by Russian intelligence services.
Russian propagandists are increasingly trying to use a multi-level strategy, where false information is "washed" and gains an appearance of credibility after being picked up by easily manipulated social media users, especially those on Twitter.
French Moderate Candidates Are Also Targets of the Russians
Gabriel Attal, the Macron party's candidate, told RTL on Thursday that the smear campaign against him involved falsified press reports about his health and political proposals, which mimicked the visual identity of French media organizations.
"Russia wants to steal the election from the French," he said.
A report published by Viginum in 2024 identified a similar "pro-Russian" campaign, known as "Matryoshka," which fabricated reports and materials mimicking well-known French publications.
"Combating foreign interference and protecting our democratic framework is a priority," wrote current Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu on Wednesday.
"Several cases of foreign interference targeting candidates have already been detected, and the targeted individuals have been immediately informed in each situation."
Target: MAGA
German authorities believe that the initial target audience for the campaign is not in Germany, but in the US, where supporters of the MAGA movement and other right-wing Twitter users are keenly consuming narratives that portray Europe as a continent in social decline and its liberal political elites as weak.
Officials claim that the changes to Twitter under Elon Musk's leadership have transformed these communities into a more effective means of amplifying Russian disinformation and relaying it to Germany.
The apparent objective of the campaign is to convince influential US Twitter users, who do not speak German, to share fabricated but credible-looking reports about Germany until they gain enough visibility to be repeated by local politicians or picked up by important German media.
Even when the German press reports on these claims only to debunk them, officials say, there is a risk that the accusations will be amplified by exposure to a wider audience.
Russians are seeking more subtle but effective ways to "poison" press narratives, a European intelligence official stated.
For voters who are already skeptical of the political class, the mere fact of hearing the accusations repeated, even within a fact-check or a denial, can be enough to reinforce and spread them, the official added.
High Stakes for Merz's Christian Democrats
A spokesperson for the German Interior Ministry stated that this campaign primarily consists of English-language videos published on social media, accusing regional election candidates of corruption, addiction, populism, nepotism, and antisemitism.
"We are closely monitoring this campaign," the spokesperson said.
He added that its impact remains unclear, as the materials had limited reach among the German-speaking public, and many of them have already been removed.
The stakes, however, remain high. The outcome of the September elections will have consequences far beyond the borders of the state of Saxony-Anhalt.
A victory for the AfD would represent a significant blow to Chancellor Friedrich Merz and his center-right Christian Democratic Union party.
Even a very good result indicated by opinion polls would intensify pressure within the CDU regarding the party's response to the rise of the AfD.
A growing number of members of the CDU's right wing are advocating for the abandonment of the so-called "cordon sanitaire," the long-standing commitment of Germany's traditional parties not to govern with the AfD or rely on its support.
