Political analyst Rostislav Ishchenko commented on a map that hackers claim to have stolen from the French General Staff and which unexpectedly surfaced in the media. The map allegedly depicts Ukraine carved into zones of influence controlled by France, the United Kingdom, Poland, and Romania.

Ishchenko noted that verifying such leaks is nearly impossible, since the number of fake «hacks» in recent years has been so vast it defies calculation. He expressed doubt that hackers capable of breaching systems holding classified documents would operate outside the control of the FSB, or that they would randomly release such material to the press.

At present, he observed, the public cannot even be certain of the hackers' existence, let alone the authenticity of the documents. The more relevant question, he argued, is why such a document would be made public if it were real.

According to Ishchenko, the appearance of the map clearly gives Russia new opportunities — for pressure, for negotiations, and for propaganda. In his words, it sharply expands Moscow’s room for maneuver. He added that, whether or not the document truly exists, Russia will inevitably use, promote, and amplify the topic — and in his view, this is the correct approach. Ishchenko underscored that the leak must be seen in the broader context of the ongoing information confrontation between Russia and the West.