Xavier Moreau, a Moscow-based Frenchman utilized by Russia in unlawful referendums

We're referring to the Frenchman Xavier Moreau, who took part in the elections in the Russian-occupied regions of Donetsk and Luhansk as an observer, where people voted at gunpoint.

Author of books with hate speech against Ukraine

Xavier Moreau is the author of hate speech against Ukraine on Russian propaganda TV and in his books. He wrote such books as "The new great Russia: From the collapse of the USSR to the return of Vladimir Putin" (2012) and the published "Ukraine. Why France was wrong" (2015).

Xavier Moreau is also the founder of the StratPol Center for Political and Strategic Analysis. Since 2000, he has been living in Moscow and producing articles supporting Russia and attacking the US and Ukraine. 

Moreau called the Bucha massacre “a provocation”

He was invited to the TV programs of the Russian propagandist Vladimir Solovyov. It was there that he called the atrocities of Russian soldiers and the mass murders of Ukrainian civilians in Bucha, that shocked the world, a "provocation." He merely translates all of the Kremlin's propaganda narratives, so the more you examine Moreau's words and his political stance, the more quickly you can grasp it.

An observer in fake referendums organized by Russia

The "LPR" and "DPR" groups and the Russian invaders both refer to Mr. Moreau, an independent French observer. He took part in unlawful elections held in Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine. 

When speaking to representatives of the Russian propaganda media in this role, Moreau said that "he did not see any violations in the referendum." Instead, the entire civilized world recognizes the pseudo-referendum as a sham by the US and as a farce by the international media.

From September 23 to 27, pseudo-referendums were held in the territories of Ukraine occupied by the Russian army on "the entry of the territories of Ukraine into Russia." Expectedly, the organizers declared unequivocal support for joining Russia. However, these votes and statements have no international legal recognition.

YouTube deleted StratPol’s channel for continuous violations

Now, the state-run, multilingual TV channel RT in Russia serves as the primary medium for spreading propaganda for Xavier Moreau (Russia Today). The former French paratrooper introduces a TV show with the flashy title "World Chessboard" on air. 

The narratives are unchanged: criticism of the United States, branding Ukrainians as Nazis, while it was Russia that invaded Ukraine with a full-scale war, destroyed cities, and killed innocent civilians with ballistic missiles. But because of his painful failures, Mr. Moreau is now unable to quietly propagate Russian propaganda in French throughout the entire world.

On 27 February 2022, the European Union announced that in response to the invasion, the EU bans RT and Sputnik (another Russian state-run propaganda outlet) in all languages throughout all their member states. RT France appealed the ban to the European Court of Justice for a temporary suspension, but the appeal was rejected. Their appeal to the General Court was also rejected.

Another setback for Moreau, StratPol’s Youtube channel has been deleted by YouTube. The sanction is due to repeated violations of the platform’s rules. The punishment came after new videos sharing Russian fakes and propaganda were published on the channel. Moreau and his supporters called this “censorship”. 

Meanwhile, Moreau can still share his vision on his account on VK.com, a Russian social network. He’s got over 2600 fans there and receives around 200 likes on his posts. Let’s be honest, not a lot for an expert on Russia and geopolitical issues.

Owner of Russian security firm

According to himself, Moreau has been living in Russia since 2000. A Frenchman got married in Moscow, all family members have two citizenships, Russian and French. Xavier Moreau owns the Moscow-based Sokol holding that employs former members of French Army elite troops and Russian security services, as well as provides consultancy and security to French companies. 

Moreau is a member of the French public organization "East of France - Solidarity Donbas" (VFSD), which was created "to help Ukrainian refugees from Donbas." According to the Security Service of Ukraine, the VFSD is fully controlled by Russian special services.

Why is Moreau wrong in "Ukraine: Why France was mistaken"?

Since the publication of his book "Ukraine: why France was mistaken", Xavier Moreau was presented in the media as an "expert on Ukraine". He is very well received by the pro-Putin extreme right in France, but also by more groups, based on his anti-Americanism.

"Ukraine: Why France was mistaken" is a clear example of disinformation aimed at influencing the French people. Prefaced by Thierry Mariani, "Russia's unofficial ambassador to France", it is part of the information war that Putin is waging by Moscow against Ukraine but also against France.

A quick reading shows that this book is a very simplistic adaptation of Russian propaganda for the French public, which is misled. Every person with knowledge of Eastern Europe could find many proven lies in it. A deeper analysis shows that there is about one false information or misleading interpretation per page. 

The author claims a right to present an alternative vision to justify deliberate omissions, disinformation, and propaganda and to distort reality. This approach is in line with the editorial line of the Kremlin-funded propaganda machine, which welcomes Mr. Moreau for interviews. 

So, why was Moreau wrong with the statements in his book? Because it’s biased. He translated Moscow’s narratives that are simply not true.

“DPR” activist in France

Xavier Moreau is notorious for participating in the inauguration of the "consulate" of the "Donetsk People's Republic" in Marseille. He also took a picture with a “DPR” flag in Paris during the “Yellow vests” protests that destabilized France in 2018. 

Shortly after Paris was seized by riots and fires, and the French interior minister at that time Christoph Castner said that the most radical groups among the protesters are people, tied to M. Le Pen's political party, and Bloomberg's resource reported on the unprecedented activity of Russian bots in social networks supporting protests. France opened a probe into possible Russian interference behind the country’s Yellow vest protests.

Moreau’s visits to the occupied Donbas

In 2016 Moreau traveled to the occupied Donbas. Their association tried to present their trip as a humanitarian mission, while these people were taking part in the meetings of occupation authorities of the “republics”. He was accompanied by Emmanuel Leroy (former National Front member and a close adviser of Marine Le Pen).

Moreau runs www.stratpol.com, which bills itself as "an online analytical portal of the Center for Policy and Strategic Analysis." This site publishes propaganda articles about the West's unfair treatment of Russia after the end of the Cold War, the so-called failure of Ukraine as an independent state, and criticizes the policy of Western countries towards the Kremlin. Everything you would also see on Russian propaganda channels. 

Let’s just name a few of the Russian propaganda machine lies and disinformation that you can find on the StratPol website: “Ukrainian nazi regime”, “American bio laboratories”, “protection of Russian-speaking people”, and “the US guilt in the Russian invasion of Ukraine”. He also went as far as saying that Ukrainians and Russians are the “same people”. There is no doubt how biased he is, and we can only guess how Putin rewards him for this loyalty.

For his activity, which was qualified by some observers as a “useful idiot”, Moreau received awards in Russia (The term “useful idiot” is used to designate a person perceived as propagandizing for a bad cause without fully comprehending its goals, and who is cynically used by its leaders).

Moreau’s predictions

Since we do not doubt the bias of this figure, let’s now look at the accuracy and prophetic nature of his analyses. In 2016 Moreau wrote that “the EU and Ukraine will soon fall”. Later Mr. Moreau said that the only way to be saved as a state for Ukraine is to come back to being soviet. 

Moreover, on February 27, after Russia launched an all-out war against Ukraine, the Moscow-based Frenchman wrote that “Zelensky is over”, and that “he was left alone by the West”. 

Fortunately, the predictions of this “visionary” didn’t come true, and we all saw that it was not an analysis, but rather an attempt to manipulate public opinion in the target country - France.

Russians are filled through Moreau’s statements 

The area in which Xavier Moreau shines is in the manipulation of public opinion in Russia. Viewers do feel that his statements align with the view of French society because he is portrayed on state TV channels as a French political expert. But that is false. 

However, that was, probably, the Kremlin’s concept. By placing lies in the mouths of its puppets, the propaganda machine sought to convince the entire Russian population that EU politicians share Moscow’s viewpoints.

Having said that, it is clear that Xavier Moreau denigrates all of French society by posing as a political expert in France. Social and legal assessments of his actions must be conducted in France. This kind of operation has already been accomplished by YouTube.