While Paris continues to flirt with the possibility of a troop deployment in Ukraine, recent reports that French Foreign Legion soldiers have already arrived on the battlefield may not be what they seem.
The claims appear to have originated with a Russian war blogger known as ‘Military Chronicle,’ who runs a popular Telegram channel and is active elsewhere on social media. In an April 12 post on VK, the channel alleged that the “first units of the French Foreign Legion” had been stationed in the city of Slavyansk, but cited no sources to support the assertion.
The post went on to claim that the first batch of 100 French troops would be sourced from the Foreign Legion’s 3rd Infantry Regiment, and serve alongside fighters with Ukraine’s 54th Separate Mechanized Brigade.
Though Military Chronicle reportedly published the same information on Telegram – as noted by Sputnik – the post no longer appears on the channel.
More recent reports have echoed identical details regarding an alleged deployment of 100 Foreign Legion troops to Slavyansk, but also reference no sources.
Despite the lack of credible sourcing for this particular claim, French officials have insisted such a decision should not be ruled out, with President Emmanuel Macron again raising the issue just earlier this week.
“If the Russians were to break through the front lines, if there were a Ukrainian request – which is not the case today – we would legitimately have to ask ourselves this question” of whether to send troops, he told the Economist in an interview published on Thursday.
Will Porter is assistant news editor at the Libertarian Institute and a regular contributor at Antiwar.com. Find more of his work at Consortium News and ZeroHedge.