{
  "id": "61470a70-84e0-4449-a2bb-97e8d998e6bf",
  "url": "https://bbc.com/news/articles/c891d43l8pyo",
  "source": "extension",
  "status": "approved",
  "category": "Political & Legal Subversion",
  "subcategory": "Political Manipulation",
  "incident_type": "Creating/manipulating political movements",
  "country": "France",
  "source_reliability": "C",
  "info_credibility": "3",
  "tags": [
    "Hybrid Warfare",
    "France",
    "Russia",
    "Vandalism",
    "Social Media Influence",
    "Proxy Operations",
    "Political Destabilization"
  ],
  "nodes": [],
  "countries": [
    "France"
  ],
  "where_text": "Land",
  "headline": null,
  "description": "In May 2024, three Bulgarian men—Georgi Filipov, Nikolay Ivanov, and Kiril Milushev—were arrested and later jailed in France for vandalizing the Paris Holocaust memorial (Wall of the Righteous) by spray painting red handprints. The act was part of a series of symbolic attacks in France intended to destabilize society, including pigs' heads left outside mosques, coffins near the Eiffel Tower, and Stars of David painted around Paris. The men were alleged to have been recruited and paid by a shadow network with alleged ties to Russian intelligence, specifically involving an individual, Mircho Angelov, who remains at large and is suspected of connections to a Russian intelligence officer. The vandalism was rapidly amplified by Russian social media troll operations aiming to weaponize the incidents to undermine French societal stability and democratic institutions. The men denied working directly for Russia and antisemitism, claiming personal difficulties and financial motivations. Sentences ranged from two to four years, with the heaviest term for the alleged mastermind, Ivanov. The case exemplifies a low-budget hybrid warfare tactic employed by the Kremlin leveraging disaffected individuals to conduct proxy acts designed to sow division and weaken adversaries.",
  "summary_short": "Three Bulgarian men jailed in France for vandalizing Holocaust memorial as part of a Russian-linked hybrid warfare campaign to destabilize French society through symbolic attacks amplified by Russian social media trolls.",
  "summary_extended": "Over several days in late October 2025, three men from Bulgaria were prosecuted in Paris for painting red handprints on the Wall of the Righteous at the Paris Holocaust Memorial. French prosecutors regard the incident as part of a symbolic series of hybrid warfare attacks, suspected to be orchestrated or inspired by Russian efforts to destabilize France by amplifying antisemitism and societal divisions. The men were arrested and tried at the Paris court, where their actions were framed as a deliberate attempt to provoke or inflame tensions around France's troubled history with antisemitism and ethnicity. Analysts note that such symbolic events are broadcast globally to weaken Western societies' social fabric. The case occurred amid broader concerns about Russian covert operations leveraging identity politics and historical grievances to sow discord. The men reportedly received funds to carry out these acts, with law enforcement identifying connections to deeper hybrid warfare initiatives. French authorities condemned the vandalism as part of wider Russian destabilization strategies targeting democratic states.",
  "actor_primary": "Mircho Angelov",
  "target_primary": null,
  "location_text": "Paris",
  "location_region": "Île-de-France",
  "location_coordinates_lat": 48.8566,
  "location_coordinates_lon": 2.3522,
  "location_precision": "Approximate",
  "is_aggressor_signal": true,
  "signal_type": "HYBRID_SIGNAL",
  "is_hybrid_war_signal": true,
  "classification_complete": true,
  "hybrid_signal_complete": true,
  "classification_confidence": "High",
  "classification_rationale": "The case involves deliberate acts of symbolic vandalism to destabilize France, linked via proxies to Russian intelligence and amplified by Russian troll networks, matching features of hybrid warfare tactics targeting political and societal cohesion.",
  "event_time_utc": "2024-05-14T00:00:00.000Z",
  "end_time_utc": null,
  "event_time_confidence": "unknown",
  "created_at": "2026-02-13T19:25:08.526Z",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-08T20:48:54.005Z",
  "reliability_band": "strong",
  "location_precision_band": "approximate",
  "time_precision_band": "unknown",
  "severity_band": "moderate",
  "attribution_confidence_band": "high",
  "attribution_basis": "single_source"
}

{
  "id": "61470a70-84e0-4449-a2bb-97e8d998e6bf",
  "url": "https://bbc.com/news/articles/c891d43l8pyo",
  "source": "extension",
  "status": "approved",
  "category": "Political & Legal Subversion",
  "subcategory": "Political Manipulation",
  "incident_type": "Creating/manipulating political movements",
  "country": "France",
  "source_reliability": "C",
  "info_credibility": "3",
  "tags": [
    "Hybrid Warfare",
    "France",
    "Russia",
    "Vandalism",
    "Social Media Influence",
    "Proxy Operations",
    "Political Destabilization"
  ],
  "nodes": [],
  "countries": [
    "France"
  ],
  "where_text": "Land",
  "headline": null,
  "description": "In May 2024, three Bulgarian men—Georgi Filipov, Nikolay Ivanov, and Kiril Milushev—were arrested and later jailed in France for vandalizing the Paris Holocaust memorial (Wall of the Righteous) by spray painting red handprints. The act was part of a series of symbolic attacks in France intended to destabilize society, including pigs' heads left outside mosques, coffins near the Eiffel Tower, and Stars of David painted around Paris. The men were alleged to have been recruited and paid by a shadow network with alleged ties to Russian intelligence, specifically involving an individual, Mircho Angelov, who remains at large and is suspected of connections to a Russian intelligence officer. The vandalism was rapidly amplified by Russian social media troll operations aiming to weaponize the incidents to undermine French societal stability and democratic institutions. The men denied working directly for Russia and antisemitism, claiming personal difficulties and financial motivations. Sentences ranged from two to four years, with the heaviest term for the alleged mastermind, Ivanov. The case exemplifies a low-budget hybrid warfare tactic employed by the Kremlin leveraging disaffected individuals to conduct proxy acts designed to sow division and weaken adversaries.",
  "summary_short": "Three Bulgarian men jailed in France for vandalizing Holocaust memorial as part of a Russian-linked hybrid warfare campaign to destabilize French society through symbolic attacks amplified by Russian social media trolls.",
  "summary_extended": "Over several days in late October 2025, three men from Bulgaria were prosecuted in Paris for painting red handprints on the Wall of the Righteous at the Paris Holocaust Memorial. French prosecutors regard the incident as part of a symbolic series of hybrid warfare attacks, suspected to be orchestrated or inspired by Russian efforts to destabilize France by amplifying antisemitism and societal divisions. The men were arrested and tried at the Paris court, where their actions were framed as a deliberate attempt to provoke or inflame tensions around France's troubled history with antisemitism and ethnicity. Analysts note that such symbolic events are broadcast globally to weaken Western societies' social fabric. The case occurred amid broader concerns about Russian covert operations leveraging identity politics and historical grievances to sow discord. The men reportedly received funds to carry out these acts, with law enforcement identifying connections to deeper hybrid warfare initiatives. French authorities condemned the vandalism as part of wider Russian destabilization strategies targeting democratic states.",
  "actor_primary": "Mircho Angelov",
  "target_primary": null,
  "location_text": "Paris",
  "location_region": "Île-de-France",
  "location_coordinates_lat": 48.8566,
  "location_coordinates_lon": 2.3522,
  "location_precision": "Approximate",
  "is_aggressor_signal": true,
  "signal_type": "HYBRID_SIGNAL",
  "is_hybrid_war_signal": true,
  "classification_complete": true,
  "hybrid_signal_complete": true,
  "classification_confidence": "High",
  "classification_rationale": "The case involves deliberate acts of symbolic vandalism to destabilize France, linked via proxies to Russian intelligence and amplified by Russian troll networks, matching features of hybrid warfare tactics targeting political and societal cohesion.",
  "event_time_utc": "2024-05-14T00:00:00.000Z",
  "end_time_utc": null,
  "event_time_confidence": "unknown",
  "created_at": "2026-02-13T19:25:08.526Z",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-08T20:48:54.005Z",
  "reliability_band": "strong",
  "location_precision_band": "approximate",
  "time_precision_band": "unknown",
  "severity_band": "moderate",
  "attribution_confidence_band": "high",
  "attribution_basis": "single_source"
}