French police are investigating whether the placing of five full-sized coffins covered with the French tricolour at the Eiffel Tower at the weekend was another act of Russian interference.
Three men were formally put under investigation on Monday – the equivalent of being charged – in connection with the coffins, each of which was inscribed with “French soldiers in the Ukraine”.
The inscription is believed to be a reference to the French president, Emmanuel Macron, raising the possibility of sending western troops to Ukraine, a suggestion Moscow has described as “dangerous”.
The incident also followed talks between French and Ukrainian defence ministers a week ago in which the possibility of France sending military instructors to Ukraine to train its forces was raised.
French detectives are investigating links between one of the suspects and the vandalism of the Holocaust memorial in Paris a week ago; 35 red hands were painted on the monument, which honours individuals who saved Jews from persecution during the 1940-44 Nazi occupation of France.
United Nations vehicles rumble along a deserted road in south Lebanon, past abandoned villages, destroyed houses...
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