Shortly after 3 a.m. ET on March 21, 2024, X (formerly Twitter) user @BradJamin3 claimed 2,000 French soldiers invaded Russia 10 hours prior to his post (archived here).
He wrote:
MAJOR NEWS: France invaded Russia 10 hours ago. 2,000 soldiers made it onto Russian soil. Where is MSM on this? Silent. Why? Because when Russia retaliates, the world will think Russia is on the offence. Viktor Orban has flown to Brussels to demand the EU make France retreat.
Other X users were left asking whether the claim was true, with one asking why the media had not covered the invasion.
Similar claims also appeared on Facebook.
However, Snopes found no evidence of such an invasion taking place in mid-to-late March 2024, which is why we have rated the claim "Unfounded."
At the time of this writing, no news releases confirming a French invasion were published on the websites of the Russian government, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, or the Kremlin. Likewise, no news releases confirming the claim were published on the French president's website, nor on the site for the French Ministry of the Armed Forces. Both countries would likely have commented if an invasion had occurred.
There were also no news reports of such an invasion in English, French, or Russian.
We did find unconfirmed reports that France was planning to send 2,000 soldiers to Ukraine, according to a Russian spy chief. But these reports fell outside the scope of our fact check.
However, a spokesperson for France's Defense Ministry told Snopes via email the spy chief's comments were "a further example of the systematic use of mass disinformation by Russia."
Snopes has contacted the president of Russia for comment and will update this article if we receive a response.