A large-scale campaign called Russosphere (sphere Russia) who defends the presence of Russia in Africa, glorifies the mercenary organization Wagner and its actions in Africa, criticizes France and the West for colonialism and “Russophobia”, calls Ukrainian soldiers “Nazis” and “Satans”, seeks to promote Russia and discredit Ukraine in French-speaking African countries.

Russosphere not only glorifies the Russian mercenary organization Wagner, but also publishes announcements for those wishing to join its ranks.

The BBC Disinformation Unit contacted a 65-year-old Belgian Stalinist who runs a campaign called “Russosphere”, which refers to “Russia’s defense network”.

It was founded in 2021 as a network made up of various social media groups, but went live in February 2022, a few days before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and in a short time gained 80,000 subscribers.

The British company Logally, which investigated this online campaign by extracting information using artificial intelligence programs, as well as from open sources, identified the person who runs it – the Belgian Luc Michel.

“Thank you Wagner”

At the same time, he discovered that Michelle was related to the Merci group. [ευχαριστώ] Wagner”, which glorifies Russian mercenaries for a French-speaking audience in Africa.

When the BBC contacted Michel, he confirmed that he was behind the Russosphere and that the campaign was privately funded and not from Russia. He assured that he had nothing to do with the Russian mercenary organization Wagner and its founder Yevgeny Prigozhin.

“I am in charge of the cyber war, the war in mm… and Prigozhin is in charge of military operations,” he said. Kyle Walter, who participated in the Logic investigation, told the BBC that Russosphere is Michel’s first successful project in the field of information warfare.

Michel’s biography is somewhat unusual for a man who likes to say that he is a friend of Africa. He began his political activity with participation in neo-fascist organizations in his native Belgium. In the 1980s, he was a supporter of Jean Tirriard, a former Nazi collaborator during World War II. Thiriart preached National Bolshevism and represented a united Europe from Valdivistok to Dublin, which would be against America.

Through Thierryar, Michel met Alexander Dugin, a Russian ideologist close to the Russian leadership, on whom Thierryar had a great influence, although it was not a close friendship. Michel told the BBC he did not approve of Dugin’s “introverted fascism”. Having failed to make a political career in Belgium, Michel entered geopolitics and became a supporter of Gaddafi. Later, he was appointed as an adviser to the President of Burundi, Pierre Nkurunziza, who ruled for almost 15 years.

All this time he had contacts with Moscow. In the 2000s, he collaborated with the Nashi youth movement founded by the Kremlin.

“I am a Stalinist”

Michel’s closest associate, the Frenchman Fabrice Bor, married a Russian woman from the Nashi movement and settled in the Krasnodar Territory. He now assists Michel at Russophère.

Together they founded an observer organization that participated in elections in the annexed Crimea and referenda in the annexed regions of Ukraine in Notnetsk and Lugansk. Michel personally traveled to Crimea as an “observer” in 2014.

“I’m a Stalinist,” Michel told the BBC. “I have been defending Russia since the 1980s. I consider Russia the only anti-American power in Europe. I am nostalgic for the Soviet Union and see a free world without America.”

Luc Michel’s goal is to bring Africa closer to Moscow. “I believe that Russia should replace France in Africa,” he states.

Kevin Limonier, an expert on Russia’s presence in Africa, says it’s hard to measure the impact of pro-Russian propaganda on politics, but one thing is clear: it worries the West. As he himself says, “diplomats and the military in Paris take this into account, see and say “God and the Lord””.

^{Source: APE-MEB, BBC (Russian Service)}