Well Russia lies constantly so I'm going to side with the French here.

Maybe those Russian military officers that were on holiday back in 2014 will finally leave Crimea. /s

Russia's whining means jack shit at this point considering they have been using mercenaries for years.

Sorry if I unnecessarily jumped down your throat comrade. It just sounded like you were, “wah, the Russians are saying they are French soldiers, the French are saying they are freelance citizens”. Maybe I’m just jaded, but I don’t believe western governments anymore. BUT, I will admit that I also didn’t trust the state department when they were saying Russia was going to invade Ukraine any day either, so what do I know. My assessment was that Putin was smart and that it wouldn’t be easy and that they would incur heavy losses, so they wouldn’t do it. It turns out I was wrong and after those heavy loses, Russia is gaining the upper ground. I guess living in the west, and knowing how much of our tax dollars is fueling the MIC, that I thought our weapons were a little more capable than they are turning out to be. My main point is that we are all subject to propaganda, myself included. And we are heavily propagandized in the west, so pervasively that we don’t even realize it. Either way, listen to both sides, make an assessment of those sides based on evidence and materiel conditions. If I had to wager a $1000 on it right now, my money is on everyone on that list is a French special force being funded directly by whatever is the French equivalent of the CIA is.

Here, I’ll break it down for your lib brain hopped up on western propaganda. These are French special forces just like US special forces have “served” in Ukraine. They are essentially spies trying to assist Ukraine, operating under the presumption that if they are captured they deny any official involvement with the French government. The Russians know this, the Ukrainians know this, the NATO allied western forces know this, especially the US because NATO is the US. Russia is calling it out because it’s an obvious provocation to war. It’s just you that aren’t clued in, and the state department’s talking points are that they aren’t part of an official operation because, gasp!, that would mean we are at war with Russia. Nah, it’s still just another proxy war, one of many in a long line dating back to immediately after WWII.

I doubt it will lead to another WWIII, but Russia is going to use it for their propaganda because it also happens to be true. Wait, you do realize that all governments and media do propaganda all the time, right?