Skip to main content

AD

Exclusive news, data and analytics for financial market professionalsLearn more aboutRefinitiv

Reuters home

World

Browse World

Africa

Americas

Asia Pacific

China

Europe

India

Israel and Hamas at War

Japan

Middle East

Ukraine and Russia at War

United Kingdom

United States

US Elections

Reuters Next

Latest in World

Biden mourns fallen police at memorial: 'We owe you as a nation'
6 min ago

Gazprom CEO Miller is in Iran as Putin prepares to visit China
16 min ago

Greta Gerwig at Cannes: #MeToo has changed things for the better
18 min ago

Russian air strikes injure at least 25 in Ukraine's south, say local officials

Russian missile and guided bomb strikes on Ukraine's southern cities of Mykolaiv and Kherson injured at least 25 people, local officials said on Wednesday.
20 min ago

Business

Browse Business

Aerospace & Defense

Autos & Transportation

Davos

Energy

Environment

Finance

Healthcare & Pharmaceuticals

Media & Telecom

Retail & Consumer

Future of Health

Future of Money

Take Five

World at Work

Latest in Business

Trafigura, IXM caught in Comex copper short squeeze as prices hit record
7 min ago

Brazil's central bank fully committed to 3% inflation target, board members say
9 min ago

Oil prices edge up on US crude storage and economic data
12 min ago

Wallet recovery firms buzz as locked-out crypto investors panic in bitcoin boom
14 min ago

Markets

Browse Markets

Asian Markets

Carbon Markets

Commodities

Currencies

Deals

Emerging Markets

ETFs

European Markets

Funds

Global Market Data

Rates & Bonds

Stocks

U.S. Markets

Wealth

Macro Matters

Latest in Markets

Stocks jump, yields fall after cooler US consumer prices
an hour ago

TSX climbs on softer-than-expected US inflation data
12:18 AM GMT+9:30

'War economy' angle on debts risks 'creative' solutions
May 15, 2024

'What doesn't kill you makes you stronger,' China trolls new US tariffs
May 15, 2024

Sustainability

Browse Sustainability

Boards, Policy & Regulation

Climate & Energy

Land Use & Biodiversity

Society & Equity

Sustainable Finance & Reporting

The Switch

Reuters Impact

Latest in Sustainability

US House committee voices support for bill to restrict BGI, WuXi AppTec
19 min ago

Lawsuit claiming Uber hid Dutch tax haven is dismissed by US judge
22 min ago

Winds set to push Canada wildfire away from oil city, say officials
26 min ago

Exclusive: Bank of America banker who died had sought to leave, citing long hours, recruiter says
1:14 AM GMT+9:30

More

Legal

Government

Legal Industry

Litigation

Transactional

US Supreme Court

Breakingviews

Breakingviews Predictions

Technology

Cybersecurity

Space

Disrupted

Reuters Momentum

Investigations

Sports

Olympics

Athletics

Baseball

Basketball

Cricket

Cycling

Formula 1

Golf

NFL

NHL

Soccer

Tennis

Science

Lifestyle

Graphics

Pictures

Podcasts

Fact Check

Video

Sponsored Content

Reuters Plus

Coupons

JM

My View

Following

Saved

World

U.S. increasingly convinced that Russia hacked French election: sources

By Mark Hosenball
May 10, 20176:59 AM GMT+9:30Updated 7 years ago

A voter holds electoral documents as he takes ballots before voting in the second round of 2017 French presidential election at a polling station in Paris, France, May 7, 2017. REUTERS/Eric Gaillard Purchase Licensing Rights

, opens new tab

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Hackers with connections to the Russian government played a role in an effort to damage centrist French politician Emmanuel Macron's presidential campaign by hacking and leaking emails and documents ahead of the election, according to two U.S. intelligence officials.

Separately, Admiral Mike Rogers, the director of the U.S. National Security Agency, told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday that Washington became "aware of Russian activity" in the French election long before purported campaign emails were leaked two days before Sunday's vote that Macron won in a landslide.

"We gave them a heads up ... "Look, we're watching the Russians, we're seeing them penetrate some of your infrastructure'," Rogers said.

The two officials and four others familiar with intelligence agency findings acknowledged that they have not found conclusive evidence that the Kremlin ordered Russian intelligence agencies to do the hacking, or that they directed it.

But it was conducted by "entities with known ties to Russian intelligence," said one of the officials, who all spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Advertisement · Scroll to continue

The Russian government has repeatedly denied any involvement in hacking of the French election.

Macron campaign digital director Mounir Mahjoubi told Reuters in an interview that he had no proof that Russian government-backed hackers were behind the attacks.

"We have no precise information on who did this," he told Reuters. "I have no confirmation, no proof." He said he was speaking in a personal capacity and not officially on behalf of the campaign.

Advertisement · Scroll to continue

Two of the U.S. government sources and one European official said there is clear evidence that Russia targeted Macron's campaign going back at least to February. Pro-European Union Macron defeated far-right nationalist Marine Le Pen, who wanted to take France out of the EU and supports Russian policy on Ukraine.

Flashpoint, a U.S. cyber intelligence firm, said over the weekend that early indications suggested the Macron leaks were the work of a hacking group known as APT 28, or Fancy Bear, which intelligence officials and cyber experts have concluded is linked to the GRU, Russia's military intelligence agency.

Advertisement · Scroll to continue

That group is one of two that U.S. intelligence officials have concluded was behind the hacks of Democratic Party emails during the 2016 U.S. presidential election to undermine the campaign of candidate Hillary Clinton in favor of Republican Donald Trump, who supported a warmer relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Congressional committees are investigating the allegations and whether there was collusion between Trump's campaign and Russia. Moscow has repeatedly denied meddling.

Advertisement · Scroll to continue

U.S. SENATOR'S QUESTIONS ON FRANCE

On Tuesday, U.S. Senator Richard Durbin sent the Justice Department, FBI and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence a letter expressing deep concern about the events in France. He asked for a "detailed accounting of the Trump Administration's assessment of the attack on the French election and the Administration's response to this attack."

Two of the U.S. officials said Russian hackers and propagandists accelerated their efforts near the end of the campaign to help Le Pen.

"After the election came down to her and Macron, they did what they could to boost her chances, and that included hacking, as well as using the French-language versions of RT and Sputnik [two Russian government-controlled media outlets] to spread propaganda and fake news," one of the officials said.

In the final days of the French election campaign, U.S.-based, pro-Trump bloggers and Twitter activists were among the most aggressive promoters of the purported Macron data leaks, which included what appeared to be private emails along with what Macron claimed were forged offshore bank account records, other officials told Reuters.

Some of the officials said U.S. government experts are puzzled by the clumsiness of the hackers who targeted Macron, noting that the major dump of Macron-related materials came shortly before the start of a two-day black-out on media coverage of the election.

Others said the hackers may have miscalculated the effect of their efforts on French voters.

"Europeans may be more resistant to Russian meddling because they've been on the front lines and have experienced more of it since World War II," one of the U.S. officials said.

Nevertheless, two officials said, France has been what one called "ground zero" in an extensive Russian espionage campaign in western Europe that began soon after Putin, a former officer in the KGB, the Soviet intelligence service, returned to the Russian presidency five years ago.

The Russian activities accelerated sharply after the EU imposed sanctions on Russia after it seized Crimea in 2014, the officials said.

In addition to hacking and other forms of cyber espionage, the efforts include attempts by the SVR, the KGB's successor, to recruit French politicians, academics, and government and industry officials, especially in the military and intelligence services.

Russian intelligence officers in France are even more numerous and active now than they were during the Cold War, and H4, the domestic counterintelligence unit of France's General Directorate for Internal Security, or DGSI, has "ramped up" to meet the threat, two of the officials said.

"During the Cold War, the U.S. was the main threat," said one of the officials. "Now EU sanctions and NATO expansion are Putin's main concerns. At the same time, the rise of far right and nationalist parties and political figures provides an opportunity to disrupt European unity."

Additional reporting by John Walcott and Dustin Volz in Washington and Michel Rose in Paris; Editing by Jonathan Weber and Grant McCool

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

, opens new tab

Purchase Licensing Rights

Read Next

EuropecategorySlovak prime minister Robert Fico in life-threatening condition after being shot
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico suffered life-threatening injuries when he was shot and wounded in an attempted assassination on Wednesday, the government office said.

Middle EastcategoryGaza fighting worsens, Israel asks why armed men at UN site
Israeli troops battled militants across Gaza on Wednesday, including in the southern city of Rafah that had been a refuge for civilians, in an upsurge of the more than seven-month war that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians.

Middle EastcategoryPalestinians mark 1948 Nakba in the shadow of war in Gaza
Palestinians commemorated the 1948 "Nakba" or catastrophe, on Wednesday, marking the time when hundreds of thousands were dispossessed of their homes in the war at the birth of the state of Israel, as fighting raged amid the rubble in Gaza.

EuropecategoryZelenskiy postpones travel abroad as Russian troops enter Ukraine border town
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy postponed all his foreign trips as the battlefield situation continued to deteriorate on Wednesday and Kyiv said fighting raged in the northeastern border town of Vovchansk in Kharkiv region.

ExplainerWhy is Russia holding nuclear drills and should the West be worried?
Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered his military to practise the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons after what Moscow said were threats from France, Britain and the United States.

EuropecategoryBlinken says U.S. will give Ukraine $2 billion in military financing
The United States will provide Ukraine with $2 billion in foreign military financing, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday at a joint press conference in Kyiv alongside Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.

World

Dozens of countries signing up for Ukraine peace summit, Switzerland says
Europecategory · May 16, 2024 · 2:11 AM GMT+9:30 · 3 min ago
Switzerland has had over 50 registrations from the more than 160 delegations the neutral country has invited to a summit next month that Bern hopes will pave the way for a peace process in Ukraine, President Viola Amherd said on Wednesday.

United Statescategory
Biden mourns fallen police at memorial: 'We owe you as a nation'
6 min ago

Worldcategory
Gazprom CEO Miller is in Iran as Putin prepares to visit China
16 min ago

Worldcategory
Greta Gerwig at Cannes: #MeToo has changed things for the better
18 min ago

EuropecategoryRussian air strikes injure at least 25 in Ukraine's south, say local officials20 min ago

Site Index

Latest

Home

Authors

Topic sitemap

Browse

World

Business

Markets

Sustainability

Legal

Breakingviews

Technology

Investigations

, opens new tab

Sports

Science

Lifestyle

Media

Videos

, opens new tab

Pictures

Graphics

, opens new tab

About Reuters

About Reuters

, opens new tab

Careers

, opens new tab

Reuters News Agency

, opens new tab

Brand Attribution Guidelines

, opens new tab

Reuters Leadership

, opens new tab

Reuters Fact Check

, opens new tab

Reuters Diversity Report

, opens new tab

Stay Informed

Download the App (iOS)

, opens new tab

Download the App (Android)

, opens new tab

Newsletters

, opens new tab

Information you can trust

Reuters, the news and media division of Thomson Reuters, is the world’s largest multimedia news provider, reaching billions of people worldwide every day. Reuters provides business, financial, national and international news to professionals via desktop terminals, the world's media organizations, industry events and directly to consumers.

Follow Us

Thomson Reuters Products

Westlaw

, opens new tab
Build the strongest argument relying on authoritative content, attorney-editor expertise, and industry defining technology.

Onesource

, opens new tab
The most comprehensive solution to manage all your complex and ever-expanding tax and compliance needs.

Checkpoint

, opens new tab
The industry leader for online information for tax, accounting and finance professionals.

LSEG Products

Workspace

, opens new tab
Access unmatched financial data, news and content in a highly-customised workflow experience on desktop, web and mobile.

Data Catalogue

, opens new tab
Browse an unrivalled portfolio of real-time and historical market data and insights from worldwide sources and experts.

World-Check

, opens new tab
Screen for heightened risk individual and entities globally to help uncover hidden risks in business relationships and human networks.

Advertise With Us

, opens new tab

Advertising Guidelines

, opens new tab

Coupons

, opens new tab

Purchase Licensing Rights

, opens new tab

Cookies

, opens new tab

Terms of Use

, opens new tab

Privacy

, opens new tab

Digital Accessibility

, opens new tab

Corrections

, opens new tab

Site Feedback

, opens new tab

All quotes delayed a minimum of 15 minutes. See here for a complete list of exchanges and delays.

© 2024 Reuters. All rights reserved

Feedback