You have probably already forgotten about them, but bedbugs nevertheless monopolized the attention of all the media at the end of last year. This episode, which went viral on social networks, could well have been “ artificially amplified » by Russia, according to the French Minister Delegate for Europe, Jean-Noël Barrot.
Last summer, who could have imagined for a single moment that such small insects would manage to monopolize public debate? However, bedbugs have intruded into the daily lives of the French during their last stay in the City of Lights, to the point of causing general hysteria, particularly in the run-up to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Moreover, the phenomenon has grown considerably on Tik-Tok.
However, for Jean-Noel Barrot, there is no longer a shadow of a doubt that Russia played a role in the media hype around bedbugs in France…
The psychosis around bedbugs in Paris would have been amplified by Russia
If this episode seems far behind us today, we must admit that bedbugs turned the daily lives of Parisians upside down last fall. Cinema seats, train seats, schools, beds… no place could resist them to wreak havoc around them and feed on the blood of the inhabitants as well as the tourists in Paris.
But, for the French Minister Delegate for Europe Jean-Noël Barrot, “ the bedbug controversy (…) has been artificially amplified on social networks by accounts which have been established to be of Russian inspiration or origin “.
Last Friday, on the channel TF1the minister even added that the phenomenon was “ very largely amplified by accounts linked to the Kremlin ”, as reported to us by 20 minutes.
Russia, the first threat in information warfare?
Based on recent statements by Jean-Noël Barrot, cyberattacks and disinformation operations from Russia have increased considerably over the past two years, coinciding with the start of the war in Ukraine.
To support his remarks, he even asserted that “ the President of the Republic created in 2021 a service called Viginum, whose mission is to detect these maneuvers which aim to destabilize public opinion in France and weaken public support for Ukraine “.
As our colleagues at the galleryGérald Darmanin, the Minister of the Interior, declared this week that Russia represented “ the first threat » in information warfare. France having presented its support for Ukrainian refugees, Russian services would have discreetly contributed to spreading the psychosis caused by parasites in the fall of 2023, thus creating false connections between the arrival of Ukrainians on French soil and the invasion of Bedbugs.
Source : 20 minutes
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