French authorities are investigating whether graffiti defacing the Holocaust memorial in Paris last week was part of a Russian destabilisation operation, according to media reports. The vandalism, discovered on 14 May, featured approximately 20 red hand symbols spray-painted on the memorial's exterior wall, which honours those who saved Jews during the Nazi occupation.
Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo reported the act as possible antisemitism, and President Emmanuel Macron condemned it as 'odious antisemitism', stating it damaged the memory of Holocaust rescuers and victims. Surveillance footage showed two individuals arriving around 3am with spray paint and stencils, along with two or three others. They were identified via mobile phone data as Bulgarian nationals who left Paris by coach for Brussels shortly after the incident.
Investigators are examining whether the graffiti was ordered by Russian security services, following a pattern similar to a previous campaign last autumn when Stars of David were spray-painted on buildings in and around Paris. In that case, a Moldovan couple was arrested, and French prosecutors investigated whether they acted at the behest of someone abroad, with suspicions pointing to Russian involvement.
