The ink on the agreements in Paris between Ukraine and representatives of the countries from the “coalition of the determined” had not yet dried, when Russian propaganda spread a fake that troops from one of the European countries were already going to Ukraine. This is not true. More on the details of the fake later in the article.
Fake
Top Russian propaganda Telegram channels, including, for example, “Military Observer”, recently spread information that France has already secretly sent troops to Romania, which will then be redeployed to Ukraine. As an argument, propagandists show a photo of a French military plane transporting personnel. And this plane was spotted at the Bucharest airport. https://surl.li/dhaixy
However, this is not true and is a fabrication of Russian propagandists.
The meeting of the “Coalition of the Willing” in Paris ended on September 4. According to the agreements, 10 of the 21 states ready to work on guarantees of Ukraine’s security agree to send their soldiers to its territory when the fighting is over. Among the states that agree to take such a step are Great Britain and France, which lead the “Coalition of the Willing”, as well as the Nordic and Baltic countries, the Netherlands, and Australia. https://surl.li/wpxqnb
However, the key aspect of such agreements, which currently makes it impossible for foreign troops to appear on the territory of Ukraine, is that such troops can only be deployed after the cessation of fighting. So, neither secretly nor openly, French troops are currently being redeployed to Ukraine.
As for the French military transport aircraft and French troops in Romania in general, they have been there since … 2022. But propagandists do not have time to turn to information that is publicly available.
Against the backdrop of Russia’s attack on Ukraine, back in May 2022, France deployed air defense systems in Romania, which are serviced by the French military. https://surl.lu/arygbv
Furthermore, France slowly increased the presence of its troops in Romania, because this was its area of responsibility within the framework of the overall security of NATO countries. By March 2024, a contingent of French troops numbering 750 soldiers was stationed in Romania, which, in particular, has 13 Leclerc tanks, a certain number of CAESAR self-propelled guns and M270 LRU rocket systems, VBCI and VAB armored vehicles in the engineering version, and other related weapons and equipment. This contingent is an integral part of the NATO multinational battalion group, located at a base near the Romanian village of Chincu. https://surl.li/mecbyc
As part of the Alliance’s spring 2025 maneuvers, it was planned to increase the size of the French contingent to 4,000 soldiers and 50 tanks and conduct the Dacian Spring maneuvers https://surl.li/wcwnvm. However, the maneuvers were canceled.
However, French troops continue to remain in Romania in the previous number and study the terrain, coordinate their actions with the Romanian military. They are part of the NATO Multinational Corps Southeast/MNC-SE, which is responsible for defending the Alliance’s southeastern direction to counter possible aggression from Russia. As of December 2022, it included separate units of the armed forces from nine countries: Bulgaria, Canada, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Poland and Turkey. Six more countries plan to join: Croatia, Hungary, North Macedonia, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom. https://surli.cc/zsemnl
So there has been no secret transfer of French troops to Romania, but a planned rotation of troops within the framework of the above-mentioned activities.