The Kremlin leveraged an information operation about escalation with NATO to target France specifically, following French President Emmanuel Macron's recent calls for the West to expand the level and types of security assistance it sends to Ukraine, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) has said.

"[Russian Defense Minister Sergei] Shoigu's attempts to threaten France and deter continued Western support for Ukraine while feigning interest in peace negotiations are part of a wider Russian information operation aimed at convincing Western countries to push Ukraine into unfavorable and unequal negotiations on Russia's terms," it said in an April 4 report.

According to the analysts, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also promoted information operations feigning interest in negotiations, and Lavrov's and Shoigu's likely coordinated informational efforts may signal a new round of intensified Russian rhetoric about negotiations.

In addition, at a meeting of more than 70 foreign ambassadors at the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Lavrov denounced Ukraine's Peace Formula and urge the countries present to not support it. Lavrov told journalists following the meeting that Russia thinks it is "not necessary to talk with Zelenskyy" but that Russia should negotiate instead with the West.

"ISW continues to assess that Russia's maximalist objectives – which are tantamount to full Ukrainian and Western surrender – remain unchanged and that any Russian statements suggesting that Russia is interested in peace negotiations are very likely efforts to force the West to make concessions on Ukrainian sovereignty and territorial integrity," it said.