Pro-Kremlin inauthentic accounts likely to promote French far right during elections—even as Moscow avoids biased official messaging

Despite—or maybe because of—extensive Western coverage of Russian election interference, Moscow tries to protect its state media’s reputation and avoids using official messaging for election meddling. According to M3’s analysis of 29 elections around the world so far this year, most of Moscow’s election-related campaigns were neutral—45% did not contain a single biased message. A small number of posts promoted anti-West narratives, like accusing the US of interference or saying the losing candidate lost due to pro-West stances, but Kremlin accounts published such content only after the elections concluded.

Official Kremlin accounts will probably cover next week’s elections in France and the US presidential elections in a mostly neutral tone, saving any criticism until after the ballots are cast. But that’s not to say Moscow is content to sit on the sidelines and let democracy run its course.

M3 detected more than 3,000 posts from pro-Kremlin, likely inauthentic accounts on X about EU elections between 6–9 June, half of which promoted the French far right or undermined French President Emmanuel Macron. This campaign showed an unusually high degree of coordination between these accounts and was likely only the tip of the iceberg in a much larger campaign. France is likely a priority target due to Paris’ strong support for Ukraine and its leading role in the EU and NATO—positions that the French far right opposes. These pro-Kremlin inauthentic accounts will almost certainly surge messaging to promote the French far right during snap elections next week.

Moscow hopes to preserve the fallacy that it does not interfere in other countries’ sovereign affairs—unlike the US, the Kremlin claims—by hiding election interference behind inauthentic accounts. US messengers looking to counter Moscow’s influence efforts can do so by attributing these inauthentic campaigns to the Kremlin and tying it directly to election interference efforts, exposing Moscow’s hypocrisy.