In 2024, under the cover of darkness on an early May morning, three Bulgarians carried out another act of vandalism as part of a Russian plan to destabilize France; now the men are facing trial, writes Politico.
It was still dark when a guard at the Paris Holocaust Memorial Museum noticed suspicious activity one morning in May 2024. Two men dressed in black were spraying red paint on the Wall of the Righteous, a stone monument that commemorates the saviors of Paris’ Jews. As the guard went to catch the criminals, a third vandal filmed the deed. The 25-meter-long wall was covered in 35 red handprints.
This is not an isolated incident, but one of several symbolic attacks that have troubled the country for two years. Pigs’ heads were placed outside mosques, Stars of David were blown up on buildings, and coffins were placed near the Eiffel Tower. Each action was designed to inflame tensions between Jewish and Muslim communities or undermine French support for Ukraine.
Following the Holocaust Memorial incident, police quickly identified and detained three Bulgarians whose trial will begin on the 29th of October. Their case provides a glimpse into Russia’s efforts to undermine stability in France through covert influence operations and psychological warfare.
Intelligence officials have said
France is a hot point in Russia’s hybrid war against Europe
as Moscow seeks ways to sway Kiev’s staunchest supporters. Analysts say France is both a key target and a weak point, a country with great international clout but a political vulnerability that makes it an easy target for manipulation.
Kevin Limonier, professor and deputy director of the Paris-based GEODE geopolitical research center, said the attacks reflected geopolitical reality. This means that Russia sees France, the only nuclear-armed state in the European Union, as a serious adversary, and French President Emmanuel Macron is a vocal supporter of Ukraine. Natalia Pouzyreff, a member of Macron’s party and co-author of the foreign influence report, pointed out that France, which is further from NATO’s eastern flank, does not have the same preventive system as former Soviet bloc countries, and the French population is much more receptive to Moscow’s rhetoric.
French authorities have charged four people with desecrating the Holocaust Memorial Museum. Three – Mirco Angelov, Georgi Filipov and Kirill Milushev – were at the scene. They then left Paris by bus to Brussels, from where they flew to the Bulgarian capital, Sofia. Filipov and Milushev were arrested by Bulgarian authorities and extradited to France. Angelov has not been found. A fourth, Nikolay Ivanov, who is accused of financing the operation, was arrested in Croatia. The three men arrested are accused of planning to desecrate the monument, with anti-Semitic motives cited as an aggravating circumstance. French investigators have also expressed suspicion that the men acted, knowingly or unknowingly, as Russian agents.
The assessment by the domestic intelligence agency DGSI also said that
the desecration of the monument was part of a broader strategy aimed at dividing French society
and increasing internal tensions through the use of intermediaries, that is, people who do not work in the services but are paid for certain tasks.
During the pre-trial hearing, Filipov and Milushev did not deny that they were present, but indicated that the main organizer was the still-at-large Angelov. The desecration of the monument was not the first time the three had met, and all come from the same town in southwestern Bulgaria. Milushev’s lawyer told Politico that her client did not know what he would have to do. Filipov’s lawyer declined to comment on the case before the trial.
Ivanov’s lawyer said that his client only paid for the hotel and bus tickets, which he said was a favor to Angelov. The lawyer denies that Ivanov had anti-Semitic motives or that he collaborated with the Russians.
Angelov could not be reached for comment, and Politico was unable to reach him. The man’s Facebook account shows selfies from his European travels.
Angelov’s tattoos, which include neo-Nazi symbols, are visible.
The red handprints the men painted on the memorial are a symbol used by some Palestinian supporters to condemn the war in Gaza, but Jewish groups and academics also see them as a reference to the killing of two Israeli soldiers in the early 2000s and a call for anti-Semitic violence. The desecration of the memorial occurred on the date of the first mass arrests of Jews in France during World War II.
Museum officials, speaking privately, were reluctant to link the act of vandalism to Palestinian support groups. One staff member said the reference to the killing of Israeli soldiers seemed outdated and out of place. The vandalism appeared similar to the Star of David painted on various sites in Paris in 2023, an incident that French prosecutors have linked to a possible foreign influence operation.
The trial, which will begin on the 29th of October, is one of nine high-profile cases since the end of 2023 involving attacks on religious communities or important monuments in France. The most recent incident took place on the 9th of September, when a bloody pig’s head was placed outside a mosque in southeastern Paris before morning prayers.
When authorities were notified, they found that the same thing had happened at eight other mosques.
After a Normandy pig farm owner reported a suspiciously large purchase, prosecutors traced the vandalism to a group of Serbian citizens. In mid-September, prosecutors said the pigs’ heads were placed near mosques by foreign nationals who immediately left the country, with the aim of causing unrest. Serbia later reported that it had detained 11 of its citizens in connection with the incident. The Serbs also said the group was linked to the spraying of green paint outside synagogues and a restaurant in the Jewish quarter of Paris.
Bassirou Camara, head of the non-profit organization Addam, said the alleged link to foreign influence operations did not ease the anxiety of the Muslim community, which knows that existing vulnerabilities are being exploited.
Academics and military officers told Politico that France’s deep social, economic, cultural, religious and political divisions are fertile ground for Kremlin ideas. Moreover, unlike Estonians, Lithuanians or Latvians, the French are unfamiliar with Russian propaganda. A senior military officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Russians believe the time has come to divide French society and show that Macron is leading in the wrong direction. This is in response to France’s support for Ukraine.
A large section of the French political spectrum has also historically been happy to maintain friendly relations with the Russians.
However, even Marine Le Pen is now trying to distance herself from Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.
In a society already on the brink of crisis, it doesn’t take much to provoke a crisis. Kristine Berzina, a senior fellow and security expert at the German Marshall Fund think tank, said Russian intelligence services are very well aware of the divisions in societies and are aware of and eager to exploit very sensitive domestic political issues.
One such issue is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. France has the largest Muslim and Jewish communities in Europe, and a European diplomat based in Paris said that this makes French society an ideal breeding ground for provocations.
Several experts have said that a surge in Russian provocations is expected ahead of the 2027 presidential election. Le Pen’s party, which supports Ukraine to a much lesser extent than Macron, has a better chance than ever before.
Meanwhile, French officials have learned from the attacks. In May, the government announced a new policy regarding Russian cyberattacks and disinformation campaigns. The country has also increased its legal arsenal. Penalties for violence committed while acting on behalf of foreign forces have been increased. Several French officials also indicated that authorities have begun working with countries familiar with Russian propaganda to better understand Russian actions.
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