Macron orders protection of France’s infrastructure against Russian hybrid attacks
France’s interior minister has met regional prefects to step up “vigilance in response to the Russian hybrid attacks”, President Emmanuel Macron said, as he ordered measures to protect critical infrastructure from so-called ‘shadow operations’.
Speaking after a meeting with French presidential hopefuls and party leaders, Macron said: “The Russian hybrid threat against Europeans and against France has intensified.”
He said he had ordered “the government to prepare a plan to protect our critical infrastructure” and the “most sensitive” defence industry and technology sites against drone and cyber-attacks.
The French president said that France would continue to support Ukraine following Russia’s full-scale invasion of the pro-Western country in February 2022 despite the Russian threats.
He also vowed that France would respond to Russia’s shadow attacks.
“This will not go unanswered,” Macron said, without elaborating.
“The intention behind it is to intimidate us and to derail the effort to support the Ukrainians. The consequence will be the opposite,” he added.
“We are not intimidated, because we know that what is at stake today in Ukraine is our security.”
