Belgian Stalinist revealed as Russian fake news tsar in Africa

Luc Michel, a 65-year-old self-described ‘Stalinist’ whose resume includes founding a Belgian version of the National Front, has been revealed as the unlikely source of an elaborate network of fake news websites designed to spread pro-Russian propaganda across Africa. 

Logically, a tech organisation focused on analysing and fighting disinformation traced Michel’s network, which included dozens of domain names purporting to be news media websites, and found that his ‘Russosphere’ network has amassed around 80,000 followers of its social media accounts since their creation in June 2021. 

Its report added that the ‘Russosphere’ network was focused primarily on French speakers.  

The tech firm, which used data from their internal artificial intelligence-powered platform combined with open source intelligence, also identified a Telegram group supporting the Kremlin-linked mercenaries, the Wagner group, consisting of 800 members called ‘Merci Wagner’. Administrators of the accounts include Michel, Fabrice Beaur, and Andre Dembele, a student from Equatorial Guinea.  

The group’s first batch of invites was sent to television presenters on various African networks, including four members of Afrique Media, a station previously linked to the Wagner Group. 

The revelations come as anti-French and anti-western sentiment has sharply increased across the Sahel region of Africa, where French and EU troops are now being urged to leave after being at the heart of defence and security missions to combat jihadist terror groups. 

They also underscore the scale of the task facing the EU, which has recently launched a series of programmes aimed at tackling what the European Commission describes as Russian ‘disinformation’ on social media in the Sahel. 

Last month, Burkina Faso’s military junta expelled France’s ambassador, Luc Hallade, months after its neighbour Mali did the same. It has also given France one month to withdraw its troops from the country. Days earlier, the United Nations´ humanitarian coordinator in Burkina Faso, Barbara Manzi, was also declared persona non grata. 

Last year, the German government stated that it would start pulling out troops from the Sahel by mid-2023 and completely withdraw its soldiers by May 2024, 

In the meantime, the military regimes in Mali and Burkina Faso have stepped up their diplomatic contacts with Russia, and the increasingly influential Wagner Group, which has a significant and growing presence in the Sahel region.

Chad, Niger, and other countries in the Sahel and neighbouring areas are also targeted by the Russian government as it seeks to boost its diplomatic ties in Africa against the backdrop of its continuing war in Ukraine. 

Michel has told the media that his networks and work are privately funded and have no links to the Russian state. 

He contends that African countries would benefit from distancing themselves from their former European colonisers and developing closer ties with Russia. He has previously worked on similar campaigns in Libya, Central African Republic, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, and Burundi, where he worked briefly as an advisor to former President Pierre Nkurunziza. 

He has also been part of online campaigns to legitimise unofficial plebiscites in Russian-occupied Ukrainian territories. 

[Edited by Alice Taylor]

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