DISINFO: Euronews reports that French farmers are angry at Ukrainian Ambassador in Paris
SUMMARY
A Euronews report dated 7 February 2024 states that Vadym Omelchenko, the Ukrainian Ambassador in Paris, wrote to the FNSEA, a major farmers' union, urging them to halt their social movement and stand in solidarity with the nation. The FNSEA leader responded on TV, asserting that Ukraine had no right to make demands of French citizens and should focus on its own affairs, especially considering the support Ukraine receives from French taxpayers. In protest, farmers expressed their dissent through graffiti and by spreading manure on the Ukrainian flag in Paris.
RESPONSE
A disinformation campaign during a social protest in France involved the creation of a fake letter purportedly from the Ukrainian Ambassador in France and a fabricated Euronews TV programme. The outlet making these claims features in the February 2024 report by VIGINUM entitled Portal Kombat: a structured and coordinated pro-Russian propaganda network.
This disinformation and manipulation is part of a wider Kremlin-orchestrated campaign to undermine popular support to Ukraine in European countries, in this case in France. Similar content is trending on many pro-Kremlin outlets operated in different European languages.
The entire narrative was fabricated by pro-Kremlin sources to discredit Ukraine. However, European farmers' concerns regarding the distortion of free and fair competition in the market due to non-EU imports are genuine. Consequently, measures have been implemented to mitigate their impact on certain products. On 31 January, the EU Commission reaffirmed its trade support for Ukraine and Moldova by extending the suspension of import duties and quotas on Ukrainian exports to the EU for another year, while also reinforcing protection for sensitive EU agricultural products.
Read also related cases such as: Olena Zelenska spent more than 1 million dollars on jewellery with EU money, or EU and the US plan to open refugee camps for Arab migrants in Georgia, or Ireland sending extradition letters to Ukrainians to force them into the army or Ukraine only cares for its Nazi prisoners of war.