France was threatened by Russian hybrid attacks in the past few weeks, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday.
“In recent weeks, the threat – particularly the Russian hybrid threat – facing Europeans and France has intensified,” Macron told reporters after meeting in Paris with political party leaders to discuss recent developments in the international situation.
Macron said that the threat posed by Russia‘s shadow operations was growing across Europe, and he had ordered measures to protect France’s critical infrastructure from increasing Russian “hybrid attacks”.
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France’s interior minister had met regional prefects to step up “vigilance in response to the Russian hybrid attacks”, Macron said after the meeting with presidential hopefuls and party leaders ahead of next year’s election.
He said he had ordered “the government to prepare a plan to protect our critical infrastructure” and the “most sensitive” defence industry and technology sites against drone and cyber-attacks.
The French president said that despite the Russian threats France would continue to support Ukraine following Russia‘s full-scale invasion of the pro-Western country in February 2022.
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He also vowed that France would respond to Russia’s shadow attacks.
“This will not go unanswered,” Macron said, without elaborating. “The intention behind it is to intimidate us and to derail the effort to support the Ukrainians. The consequence will be the opposite,” he added.
“We are not intimidated, because we know that what is at stake today in Ukraine is our security.”
Macron heads to the UN General Assembly next week to discuss international events, including the war in Ukraine.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, Reuters)
