The Kremlin-linked bot network Matryoshka has launched a new wave of disinformation targeting European politicians ahead of elections. The main targets are Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, whose ruling bloc is fighting to hold on to power in the Sept. 13 parliamentary election, and former French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, who officially entered the 2027 presidential race this past May.
Dozens of fake videos and cover images styled to look like content from well-known Western media outlets and organizations are circulating on X linking the two politicians to a range of fabricated scandals. The campaign was reported to The Insider by AntiBot4Navalny, a project that tracks the emergence and spread of fake videos on social media.
The fakes are a continuation of the campaign Matryoshka launched in Sweden on Aug. 18–19, less than a month ahead of the parliamentary election. At that time, seven fake videos mimicking content from well-known international media outlets appeared on X in the span of an hour, spreading false claims about Swedish politicians’ ties to pedophiles and financial criminals, preparations for election fraud, and attacks on opposition leaders.
The creators of the fakes have now merged the Swedish campaign with the disinformation onslaught against Attal, whom Matryoshka had begun targeting before. In early August, the network spread fake material mimicking BFM, RFI, Le Parisien, AFP, France 24, Le Figaro, Libération, and Le Monde, falsely attributing drug addiction, Parkinson’s disease, and other fabricated outrages to the French presidential candidate.
One of the new videos claims that Attal supposedly vacationed in Baden-Baden with a certain Volker Pelle, whom the video’s creators describe as one of the key organizers of a scheme to traffic children from Africa, China, Vietnam, and Thailand to pedophiles in Europe. The same storyline draws in Kristersson, claiming his family used Pelle’s services to adopt three children.
The video’s creators also allege that Attal discussed his involvement in illegal adoptions with Pelle, and that the French politician and his former partner Stéphane Séjourné supposedly planned to adopt a child to boost their falling approval ratings. No evidence is provided for any of these claims. However, to lend the story at least a hint of credibility, the creators of the fake news attribute a comment to a France 24 journalist who supposedly asks why Attal did not use the legal adoption process and instead turned to “the most notorious supplier of victims.”
Another fake video, designed to look like a Euronews segment, claims that Kristersson’s approval rating dropped by 30% after he spoke out about Russian disinformation. The creators again draw a parallel with Attal, claiming that talk of Russian interference is “poison” for Kristersson and his Moderate Party ahead of the election in Sweden. The video features a quote attributed to Euronews editorial director Claus Strunz claiming that politicians who talk about Russian disinformation are supposedly committing “political suicide.”
In addition to videos, the network is spreading fabricated front pages of European newspapers. A fake cover of La Tribune dated Aug. 25 claims that French President Emmanuel Macron supposedly refused to speak with Attal after a “scandal involving drug use.” The large headline reads “Go to hell!”
Additionally, a fake Libération front page carries an announcement claiming that Macron supposedly “distanced himself from Attal after a drug scandal.” Meanwhile, the cover’s main story is about a completely different topic — political disputes over water following a drought and extreme heat in France.
Fake covers of Expressen and Svenska Dagbladet aimed at a Swedish audience mock Kristersson and Attal together. The first, featuring photos of the two, carries the caption: “These two are at least as dumb as Beavis and Butt-Head.” In the second, the politicians’ faces are superimposed on the bodies of the cartoon characters, with a headline calling them “Europe’s Beavis and Butt-Head.” Beneath the image is a caption reading: “Ulf Kristersson and Gabriel Attal — clinical idiots who have taken over Europe.”
Matryoshka is a Kremlin-linked network of bots, trolls, and coordinated anonymous media resources that specializes in mass disinformation campaigns. Its signature tool is short videos bearing the logos of reputable Western media outlets, universities, government bodies, and international organizations that are then spread using X, Telegram, Bluesky, and private group chats. The network’s favorite technique is to seize on a real news event and build a fabricated narrative around it using real names, brands, and organizations.
The new wave appeared amid the upcoming Riksdag election in Sweden, scheduled for Sept. 13. The ruling bloc, led by Kristersson’s Moderate Party, is being challenged by a center-left bloc led by the Social Democrats. According to an Ipsos poll published on Aug. 25, the opposition bloc has 52.4% support, while the ruling bloc has 45.6%.
At the same time, Matryoshka is targeting candidates in the French presidential election, set to take place in spring 2027. Attal, who served as prime minister in 2024 and now leads the presidential party Renaissance, officially announced his candidacy on May 22. Notably, this is not the first wave of Matryoshka fakes targeting Attal.
At the same time, the network is running disinformation campaigns in other European countries where elections are scheduled soon. Several regional and local elections will take place in Germany in September, and as The Insider has previously reported, Germany’s Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) issued an official warning about a Russian disinformation campaign. In August, Matryoshka bots spread posts on X using the hashtag #TimeToDivideGermany, promoting the re-division of the country into East and West Germany while calling it a “historical necessity.”
