Overview

• Chief of the Defense Staff General Thierry Burkhard announced on July 11 that Moscow now views France as its primary European foe.
• Burkhard cautioned that Russia employs hybrid warfare tactics including disinformation campaigns, cyberattacks, espionage and sabotage of undersea infrastructure.
• He reported that Russian nuclear attack submarines routinely patrol the North Atlantic and deploy in the Mediterranean to monitor areas vital to France.
• The general highlighted maneuvers by Russian satellites aimed at spying on or disrupting French space assets and signs of a push toward militarizing space.
• President Emmanuel Macron will address these multi-domain threats in his Bastille Day defense speech on July 14, unveiling new countermeasures and a planned boost to the military budget.