Moscow accused of ‘psychological warfare’ after coffin stunt in Paris
- Security footage captured the moment coffins were dumped by the landmark
- French authorities suspect Russian involvement in several recent stunts
A shocking stunt that saw coffins draped in the French flag and bearing the inscription ‘French soldiers in the Ukraine’ deposited by the Eiffel Tower this weekend may have been orchestrated by Russian intelligence.
Security footage captured the moment a white van bearing Bulgarian licence plates pulled up near the landmark before two men, dressed head to toe in black, unloaded five full-sized coffins and dumped them on the pavement on Saturday morning.
All three individuals involved were quickly arrested, with Parisian investigators reportedly discovering material on the phone of one detainee connecting him to another group that defaced a Holocaust memorial in the French capital last month, according to Le Monde.
That act – along with another in October which saw 250 Stars of David stencilled on walls throughout the French capital – are thought to have been organised by Russia‘s FSB security services, according to France‘s Foreign Ministry.
One source close to the investigation told Le Parisien the stunt ‘was to denounce France for getting involved in the war in Ukraine’, adding: ‘Russia wants to voluntarily disrupt France through various actions.’
The unsettling stunt comes off the back of discussions between French and Ukrainian defence ministries over the possibility of Parisian soldiers being sent to train Kyiv‘s fighters on Ukrainian soil.
Meanwhile, French authorities remain on high alert for potential terror attacks, protests and disruptive behaviour with Paris set to host the Olympic Games in a matter of weeks.
Security footage captured the moment a white van bearing Bulgarian licence plates pulled up near the landmark before two men, dressed head to toe in black, unloaded five full-sized coffins and dumped them on the pavement on Saturday morning
A general view of the Eiffel Tower, Paris, ahead of the Paris Olympic Games which will start on July 26
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin meets with Russia’s presidential commissioner for children’s rights in Moscow on May 31, 2024
In an interview last month, Macron did not rule out sending troops to aid Kyiv, saying the issue would ‘legitimately’ arise if Kyiv made such a request
French President Emmanuel Macron has said he would be prepared to send troops to Ukraine if Vladimir Putin’s forces break through the front lines
Parisian police quickly identified and detained all three individuals involved in depositing the coffins at the foot of the Eiffel Tower on Saturday morning.
The three men – a 39-year-old Bulgarian, a 25-year-old German and a Ukrainian teenager – all claimed they had been paid to carry out the job and did so because they were unemployed and desperate for cash.
On Monday, the three men were questioned by an investigative judge as the prosecutor’s office asked that they be charged with premeditated ‘psychological violence’, but were subsequently released pending further investigation.
The motive for the incident was unclear, but it comes just one week after top Ukrainian officials announced they had signed paperwork with France’s defence ministry that would see French troops deploy to Ukraine to train Kyiv’s soldiers.
France’s defence ministry is yet to confirm the agreement but admitted last week that the possibility of French soldiers holding training camps on Ukrainian soil was one of several subjects discussed with authorities in Kyiv since February.
‘Like all the projects discussed at that time, this track continues to be the subject of work with the Ukrainians, in particular to understand their exact needs,’ it said.
Baltic states have in the past indicated they could join France in such a project.
‘Lithuania is ready to join a coalition led by France for example which would train soldiers in Ukraine,’ Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis told France’s LCI television on May 20.
This followed a stunning declaration by Emmanuel Macron in early May in which the French President said he would consider sending troops to defend Ukraine should Russia threaten to push deeper into the country.
‘If Russia decided to go further, we will in any case all have to ask ourselves this question’ of sending troops, he said, describing his refusal to rule out such a move as a ‘strategic wake-up call for my counterparts’.
He described Russia as ‘a power of regional destabilisation’ and ‘a threat to Europeans’ security’, adding: ‘I have a clear strategic objective: Russia cannot win in Ukraine.
‘If Russia wins in Ukraine, there will be no security in Europe,’ he warned.
Workers build the stands for the upcoming Olympic Games on the Champ-de-Mars just beside the Eiffel Tower, in Paris, April 1, 2024 in Paris
Emanuel Macron’s official photographer released pictures of the French President in a boxing gym in March amid statements about the possibility of sending French troops to Ukraine
Police officers patrol the Trocadero plaza near the Eiffel Tower in Paris
A Yars intercontinental ballistic nuclear missile is fired during a training, from Plesetsk cosmodrome in Northern Arkhangelsk region, Russia
In the early days of the war in Ukraine, Macron was seen as the European leader most willing to maintain relations with Putin.
For months he sought to remain in frequent contact with his Russian counterpart and attempted to assume the role of a mediator.
But earlier this year he made an abrupt about-face, declaring he ‘could not rule out’ the possibility of European troops one day deploying to Ukraine.
In February, Putin warned Macron that if France were to send any troops to Ukraine, they would meet the same fate as Napoleon Bonaparte’s Grand Armée, whose 1812 invasion ended in staggering defeat and huge casualties.
But the French president stood his ground, urging Europeans not to be ‘weak’ and to prepare to respond to the Russian threat, some two years into the war.
‘If Russia wins this war, Europe’s credibility will be reduced to zero,’ Macron said in a television interview, inviting criticism from French opposition leaders.
‘Today, deciding to abstain or vote against support to Ukraine, it’s not choosing peace, it’s choosing defeat,’ he declared, before going on to issue an uncharacteristically stern warning to Russia that France is too a nuclear power, chastising Putin for threatening the use of nuclear devices.
That came after the Russian President told state TV ‘weapons exist in order to use them‘ in reference to the possibility of deploying nukes should Western troops be deployed in Ukraine.
