Russia Signals French Private Military Firms Will Become Priority Targets
Russia’s SVR warns that any French private military companies operating in Ukraine will be viewed as direct participants in the conflict and targeted by Russian forces.
Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) has issued a stark warning: if French private military companies appear on the Ukrainian battlefield, they will be treated as priority targets by the Russian armed forces. The agency’s press bureau stressed that such involvement would put these groups squarely in the line of fire.
According to the SVR, Paris is still searching for ways to engage more directly in the Ukrainian conflict. One recent move, they noted, was a government decree authorizing the use of private military contractors to support a «third country involved in an armed confrontation.»
The intelligence service underscored that the deployment of French PMCs on Ukrainian territory — described in the decree as «reference operators» cooperating with France’s Ministry of the Armed Forces — would, from Moscow’s perspective, amount to France taking part in combat operations against Russia.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has previously stated that any arms shipments headed for Kiev, as well as NATO military personnel operating within the conflict zone, would be regarded as legitimate targets for Russia’s forces.