France's Foreign Intelligence Chief: Russia is an existential threat to Europe.

Nicolas Lerner, head of France's Directorate-General for External Security (DGSE), gave an interview to the French television channel LCI.

Key points:

▪ Lerner, like Mark Rutte and President Macron, considers Russia an existential threat to Europe in the medium and long term, as the ideology promoted by the Kremlin could lead to another war.

▪ Russia is actively interfering in elections in several European countries.

▪ Before the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, around 80 Russian agents were operating on French territory. About 50 of them were expelled from France.

▪ In 2022, French counterintelligence uncovered a senior official at a company who had been recruited by the Russians more than a decade before the full-scale war. As a result of that investigation, another six Russian agents were expelled from the country.

▪ Lerner said he was struck by the brazenness of the Russians when, several years ago, Putin unveiled a monument to agents outside the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) headquarters, listing the cities where they operate: Beijing, New York, Paris, London.

▪ The French foreign intelligence service continues to maintain contact with its Russian vis-a-vis in the context of cooperation on Islamist terrorism.

▪ As part of these contacts, the head of the DGSE has had several opportunities to speak with Sergey Naryshkin, including one recent conversation, as he noted.
https://x.com/Gerashchenko_en/status/1944453435635462257
https://litter.catbox.moe/pzavzftcuodj4gwl.mp4

>part 1