France 24 Debunks False Claim That France Is Dumping Nuclear Waste in Armenia

PARIS — France 24 has debunked a recent false claim circulating online that France has been secretly transporting nuclear waste to Armenia.

In a video segment, France 24 correspondent Cathérine Maghsoudian d’Abgoh noted that the fake news spread rapidly across social media.

“The post was published on June 25, and the same day it began circulating. On platform X alone, it was viewed over 2.1 million times. The claim alleged that French nuclear company Orano needed a new storage facility for nuclear waste, supposedly locating it in Armenia. Moreover, it was stated that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan allegedly received a suspicious €1.6 million ‘donation’ from France in exchange for handing over land within a national park. The environment and public health, it was claimed, were sacrificed for profit. A fake news video was also circulated under the name ‘Courriere France 24’—a so-called media outlet. Although the video was in French, the strong accent and lack of journalistic standards clearly revealed it to be a forgery,” she explained.

When asked how this fake news emerged, Maghsoudian detailed that the first appearance was on June 25 through a French-language website named Courriere France 24.

“All reposts linked back to that site, but the site itself is fake. Domain registration records show it was created only recently—on June 16, 2025, just 10 days before the story went viral. Its IP address reveals it wasn’t hosted in France, but in Peru. Investigators from TF1 used AI tools to analyze the site and discovered that all of its content was AI-generated. The site repeatedly used the names of well-known media outlets, including France 24.”

The fake articles were mostly signed under the name Romain Facet, a real French journalist who, according to his LinkedIn profile, has been a victim of identity theft. His name was used on the fake site without his knowledge.

Maghsoudian also addressed the likely source behind the disinformation campaign:

“As with similar incidents, this has all the hallmarks of a coordinated disinformation campaign employing classic Russian propaganda tactics—fabricating fake websites, misusing credible organization names to lend false legitimacy. For example, the article appeared on a fake site pretending to be a civil organization called Green Armenia. While a legitimate group by that name does exist, the fake site was created on June 18, just before the news broke. The real site’s domain is green-armenia.org, while the fake one was greenarmenia.org. A small difference, but a crucial one.”

Once the false information was posted on the fake site, it quickly spread via pro-Russian users on platform X. Maghsoudian added that some actors promoting the story were directly linked to the Russian government and that the campaign was also likely coordinated by Azerbaijan.

“The fake news was widely disseminated through Azerbaijani TV channels and news agencies. In conclusion, this was a coordinated disinformation campaign targeting both Paris and Yerevan,” she concluded.