Russian propaganda presents Macron statement as a trick to divert attention from his wife

RU

In his weekly news digest Vesti Nedeli, Russian propagandist Dmitry Kiselyov commented on Emmanuel Macron's recent televised address, in which the French president spoke about the military threat posed by Russia and Paris’s ability to protect European allies using its nuclear weapons. Kiselyov jumped at the chance to make a few dismissive remarks about France's military potential:

“But what is this French nuclear arsenal that Emmanuel Macron is waving around? How serious is he?

First of all, France doesn't possess a proper missile defense. In other words, there can be no umbrella for Europe.

Second, the republic has no early warning system for missile attacks. At the moment, only Russia and the United States can boast such systems.”

But the Sunday evening propagandist’s jibes were at odds with the work of Russian military analysts. Back in 2022, Russian Lieutenant Colonel R. Lukin and Candidate of Military Sciences S. Tveretsky wrote in a Ministry of Defense journal entitled Zarubezhnoye Voennoye Obozreniye (“Foreign Military Review”):

“The [French] nuclear missile warning system includes satellite and ground-based early detection and tracking capabilities for ballistic targets.

The SPIRALE (Système Préparatoire Infra-Rouge pour l'ALErte) infrared ballistic missile launch detection system consists of an orbital constellation of two (Western and Eastern) French geostationary satellites of the Spirale type with infrared equipment. Their demonstration launch into the transition to geostationary orbit took place in 2009. As a result, the constellation has the capacity to conduct continuous reconnaissance of the area of interest in near-real time and transmit intelligence to the relevant control points.

The detection zones of these satellites cover Eurasia, Africa, and three oceans — Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific — at a range of up to 4,000 kilometers from the borders of France. These ballistic missile early detection and tracking capabilities should detect the launch of ballistic missiles, determine their flight trajectories, and predict the areas where the warheads will fall, providing targeting guidance to missile defense systems.

From 2009 to 2011, the satellite constellation completed a number of missions using experimental spacecraft. According to French experts, the outcome of this project can be used for nuclear attack warning purposes, and its low cost and high reliability proved the cost-efficiency and promise of the SPIRALE system. The project was put on hold in 2011 due to budgetary cuts and the lack of clear threats to French national security. Currently [in 2022], work on the space component is ongoing, with its entry into pilot operation expected in 2023 and operational use in 2025-2027...

To intercept ballistic targets, the ground component of the French air defense and ballistic missile defense system employs SAMP/T (Surface-to-Air Missile Platform/Terrain) anti-aircraft missile systems, which are in service with the country's Air and Space Force. These systems are equipped with Aster-30 surface-to-air guided missiles (SAMs) of various modifications and have a fire control system based on a multi-purpose all-round radar.

In 2021, a new-generation SAMP/T NT SAM system was put into production, equipped with the Aster-30 Block 1 NT SAM and the more modern Ground Fire-300 radar (which replaced the Arabel radar). The firing range of the system is 150 kilometers, and the range of target detection is 350 kilometers. The system is scheduled to be put into service in 2025. The addition of the promising Aster-30 Block 2 missile will enable the system to intercept ballistic missiles at a range of up to 3,000 kilometers, including beyond atmospheric range. At present, France does not have any long-range interceptor missiles for intercontinental and intermediate-range ballistic missiles in service but is developing them.

The SAMP/T anti-aircraft missile system is designed to cover important government and military facilities and is capable of simultaneously escorting up to 130 and firing at up to 10 air targets.

The system includes four spatially separated launchers, each equipped with eight transport and launch containers with Aster-type SAMs.

At present, the country's Air and Space Force has in its service approximately 40 SAMP/T air defense systems, which can defend eight to ten critical facilities on the country's territory against a group strike with short-range missiles. Aside from France, SAMP/T is purchased by Italy, with the two countries carrying out joint testing and production of the new-generation SAMP/T NT anti-aircraft missile system.”

If the work of Russian military analysts is still not enough to convince Kiselyov of the error in his arguments, then perhaps it is worth pointing out the fact that the principle element of a nuclear umbrella is not to repel a missile attack, but to deter the enemy from unacceptable actions via the threat of irreparable damage. Kiselyov claims that in terms of total capacity, Russia's nuclear arsenal is about 25 times as big as that of France. However, the French nuclear capabilities are deployed mostly on submarines, guaranteeing an inevitable retaliatory strike in the event that Moscow attacked a target under France’s protection.

But Kiselyov went even further in his monologue. His explanation as to why Macron needed to make this statement was truly astonishing. As it turns out, the problem is not Russian aggression or the bizarre policies of the Trump administration. It is much more unsavory even than all of that:

"With his address to the nation, Macron tries to divert attention from his transgender wife"

“But there is another thought as to why Macron is acting so boisterous: he is like a man who has made an obscene sound and is noisily moving chairs and clinking dishes to distract everyone from his embarrassment. Macron has a reason to do so. He desperately needs to distract the public from suspicions about his union with his wife, Brigitte…

'I would stake my entire professional reputation on the fact that Brigitte Macron is in fact a man,' blogger Candace Owens wrote.

The long-running investigation of three French journalists has now been joined by ultra-right American activist Candace Owens. The influential blogger, with an audience of 4 million, has released a whole series of pieces claiming that the boy in an old family photo — Jean-Michel Trogneux — is not Brigitte's brother, but Brigitte herself. As an adult, he underwent gender affirming surgery to become a woman. As the head of an amateur theater club, she fell in love with Macron when he was still in high school.

Macron was 14 at the time, and the person with whom he would later link his life was 39.

‘When I met this woman, I was much younger,’ Macron previously admitted.

‘Regardless of whether she had or had not been a man, don't you think it's bizarre for her to fall for a 14-year-old high school student? It's perverted and reeks of pedophilia,’ blogger Candace Owens opined.

The French public is more liberal, but they too were astounded by these details until the media rushed to embellish the story before Macron's first election. Videos and photos, like these ones from the beach in Biarritz, were meant to convince [viewers] that it was love from the very beginning — an unorthodox but great and pure love.”

The hoax Kiselyov turns to is not new, and it has already been covered extensively in The Insider's Antifake section. There can be no doubt that Jean-Michel Trogneux exists and lives under his real name: there is footage of a government function attended by the Macrons and Trogneux, along with the testimony of a journalist who met Trogneux at his home in Amiens. There is Brigitte Trogneux's birth announcement in the local paper, signed by her older brother Jean-Michel, among others. There is a certificate of his registration on the electoral rolls in 2022 and his signature as a best man at Brigitte's wedding to her first husband, André-Louis Auzière. Finally, there is a court ruling that the authors of the hoax must pay €8,000 in compensation for moral damage to Brigitte Macron and €5,000 to Jean-Michel Trogneux, meaning that the French court has no doubt that these two are completely different people.

Of course, it is factually true that blogger Candace Owens wrote on the X platform that she is staking her entire reputation on the claim that Brigitte Macron was born a man. But perhaps even more importantly for the supposed relevance of the Kiselyov segment, the post appeared a year ago.

As Google Trends show, the interest in Owens's “exposés” on the part of the French public has since waned considerably. Here's how the number of searches for “jean michel trogneux” has changed over the past year.

And these are the statistics for the query “brigitte macron jean michel trogneux.”

In general, the French nation has somewhat lost interest in the figure of their First Lady.

Therefore, it was not the long-extinguished scandal, fueled mostly by a handful of Russian propagandists, that caused Macron to offer up an attention-grabbing statement about European security, but considerations of a completely different nature.

SEE ALSO

• Kremlin fake claims Ukraine planned to assassinate French President Emmanuel Macron
• Macron won’t call: French president becomes chief hawk on war in Ukraine

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