Is it true that France sent soldiers of the Foreign Legion to Ukraine?

At the beginning of May 2024, Russian media reported that 100 military personnel from the French unit were transferred to the Donetsk region of Ukraine. We decided to check how reliable this information is.

May 5 "Russian newspaper", "Komsomolskaya Pravda", Lenta.ru, "Gazeta.ru"and other publications wrote that 100 soldiers of the French Foreign Legion were sent to fight in Ukraine. It was alleged that they were deployed in support of the 54th separate mechanized brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in Slavyansk, and the servicemen themselves belonged to one of the main units of the Foreign Legion - the 3rd Infantry Regiment. Most media outlets cited Stephen Bryan, former US Assistant Secretary of Defense, and his article in the Asia Times

Over the past two months, Russian propaganda has become more active than usual in attacking France and the country’s President Emmanuel Macron. This is due to statements policy on the possible dispatch of French troops to Ukraine. After this, the French president became the favorite hero of the creators of fake news: it was to him, for example, that most fake covers in the first months of 2024.

Article in Asia Times, which Russian media refer to, really exists, it was published on May 4. Its author, Stephen Bryan, writes in the first paragraph: “France officially sent its troops to Ukraine for the first time.” He further notes that for now we are talking about 100 military personnel, but in the future their number will reach 1,500. Brian, as indicated in the paraphrases of his text, previously served as Assistant Deputy Secretary of Defense of the United States - however, this was back in 1987-1989, under Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush.

Two days later Asia Times made edits into the article, providing it with a notice that the author himself doubted his sources (which, however, he did not cite in the original text). The hyperlink used in the original publication, the publication writes, does not work, and the text had to be changed, indicating that the information has not been confirmed and that the French authorities deny sending military personnel to Ukraine. In fact, the link was originally broken: Asia Times simply reprinted the text that Brian published on his blog on Substack.

In the new version of the article, the publication added a link to Brian’s source of information - it turned out to be fast Russian state news agency Sputnik, published on the social network X back on April 13. In turn, Sputnik referred to a publication in the anonymous Telegram channel “Military Chronicle”. Judging by the data from the TGStat service, that post is indeed the earliest of those that talks about the French Foreign Legion in Slavyansk. The post, which received nearly 520,000 views, was posted April 12 at 13:15 Moscow time. The exclusive “Military Chronicle data” is indicated there as a source of information.

French authorities called reports about sending legionnaires to Ukraine a fake. The corresponding statement from the country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs was published on the official page of the department in X: “Caution, fake! Disinformation campaigns related to France's support for Ukraine continue unabated, and here is the proof. NO, France did not send troops to Ukraine.”

The main oddity in the reports about legionnaires is the indication of the unit whose representatives allegedly arrived in Slavyansk. 3rd Infantry Regiment of the French Foreign Legion based in South America, in French Guiana. The regiment has several tasks: primarily legionnaires provide security cosmodrome in Kourou, where it is located Guiana Space Center, shared by the European Space Agency and the French National Center for Space Research. In addition, the Foreign Legion participates in Operation Harpy, aimed at combating illegal gold mining in Guiana. Finally, the 3rd Infantry Regiment is in charge of the work training center, in which French special forces learn how to conduct jungle operations. In total, the regiment numbers up to 500 soldiers and officers, not counting support personnel.

The size of the 3rd Infantry Regiment, where it is based, and the specific missions it performs suggest that the likelihood of this unit being sent to war in Ukraine is extremely low. In addition, at the turn of April and May, legionnaires, in addition to their main service, were busy with other things: every year on April 30, the Foreign Legion celebrates the anniversary Battle of Camarón (1863), this is one of the main memorable days for employees in the unit.

On May 8, the 3rd Infantry Regiment celebrated the day of victory over Nazi Germany, and then organized an open house for local residents: games for children, a lottery, and a beauty contest were held.

However, the author of the article that started it all created even more confusion after he admitted that his sources were dubious. Brian, by putting a link to Sputnik, started making excuses and cited another publication to confirm his words. As the author writes, “it is well known that the 3rd Brigade of the Foreign Legion is conducting training before being sent to Ukraine.” There is no such unit as the 3rd Brigade in the Legion, but it can be assumed that this is a typo. Brian cites "French media" as his source, and the link goes to the website Le Courrier des Stratèges, where on March 15 an article appeared about how the Foreign Legion was allegedly preparing for battles in Ukraine. The editor-in-chief of this portal is a famous French conspiracy theorist Eric Verhaeghe, the author of the article is far-right publicist and historian Edouard Husson, covering the war in Ukraine from pro-Russian positions. 

But this publication is not the original source of the news: Yusson refers to “colleagues from Southfront.press.” March 14 on this site was published an article in English and French about how in France, at the training center in La Curtin, on the basis of the Foreign Legion, a battalion is being formed to be sent to Ukraine. The anonymous author does not cite any sources. Meanwhile, this site has been well known since the beginning of the full-scale war between Russia and Ukraine. In March 2022, the US Treasury contributed him in sanctions list (then the resource was located at southfront.org) for interfering in the 2020 US presidential election and spreading disinformation about the war in Ukraine. The site has nothing to do with France: it was registered in 2015 in Moscow and re-registered to a new address there in 2024. "Verified" already paid attention to this resource in connection with the publication of fakes about the war in Ukraine.

In the context of ongoing hostilities, one cannot be completely sure of the presence or absence of a particular unit at the front. But in the case of the Foreign Legion, whose units allegedly already arrived near Slavyansk, there are too many implausible details. First, the author of the article that attracted the attention of the Russian media later admitted that his sources were dubious. Secondly, the most likely anonymous primary source states that the legionnaires belong to a regiment that performs tasks that are in no way compatible with their presence in Ukraine. Thirdly, the first to write about the sending of the Foreign Legion to Russia were pro-Kremlin blogs, which were caught spreading fakes more than once. 

Thus, until the contrary becomes known from reliable sources, we can conclude that the news about the presence of the French Foreign Legion in Ukraine is not true.

Cover photo: French Foreign Legion website

Not true

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