France reportedly fires military intelligence chief for missing threat of Russia invading Ukraine


France is firing Gen. Éric Vidaud, the director of French military intelligence, for downplaying the possibility that Russian would invade Ukraine, even as the U.S. warned for months that such an invasion was imminent, French media reported Thursday.
One source at the Ministry of the Armed Forces told l'Opinion that Vidaud was sacked for "insufficient briefings" and a "lack of mastery of subjects," while Chief of Defense Staff Thierry Burkhard tells Le Monde that Vidaud was dismissed after France's intelligence services realized their analysis of Russia's intentions was erroneous, BBC News reports.
France wasn't alone in misreading the Ukraine situation. The U.S. and Britain said Wednesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin has been receiving misleading intelligence on Ukraine, both before his invasion and after, as demoralized Russian troops are failing to meet key military objectives, dying in great numbers, and now losing ground in some places.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
"It increasingly looks like Putin has massively misjudged the situation" and "the resistance of the Ukrainian people," Jeremy Fleming, the head of Britain's cyber-intelligence agency GCHQ, said in Australia on Wednesday. "Even though we believe Putin's advisers are afraid to tell him the truth, what's going on and the extent of these misjudgments must be crystal clear to the regime."
The U.S. has intelligence that Putin has "felt misled by the Russian military," resulting in "persistent tension between Putin and his military leadership," White House communications director Kate Bedingfield said. "Putin's war has been a strategic blunder that has left Russia weaker over the long term and increasingly isolated on the world stage." A senior State Department official told CNN that this is "information that we're confident in now and it's also information that probably had a degree of truth to it before the invasion."
"Putin clearly seems to have thought that he could go into Ukraine, that his forces wouldn't meet resistance, that they would be greeted warmly including in Russian speaking parts of Ukraine, that he would be able to take Kyiv in a matter of 48, 72 hours," the State Department official tells CNN. "Every single element that he seems to have believed turns out to be wrong. So, whether his advisers weren't giving him the full unvarnished truth, whether he wasn't listening ... I think we've seen this every step of the way."
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
Why Rikers Island will no longer be under New York City's control
The Explainer A 'remediation manager' has been appointed to run the infamous jail
-
California may pull health care from eligible undocumented migrants
IN THE SPOTLIGHT After pushing for universal health care for all Californians regardless of immigration status, Gov. Gavin Newsom's latest budget proposal backs away from a key campaign promise
-
Is Apple breaking up with Google?
Today's Big Question Google is the default search engine in the Safari browser. The emergence of artificial intelligence could change that.
-
The secret lives of Russian saboteurs
Under The Radar Moscow is recruiting criminal agents to sow chaos and fear among its enemies
-
Is the 'coalition of the willing' going to work?
Today's Big Question PM's proposal for UK/French-led peacekeeping force in Ukraine provokes 'hostility' in Moscow and 'derision' in Washington
-
Ukraine: where do Trump's loyalties really lie?
Today's Big Question 'Extraordinary pivot' by US president – driven by personal, ideological and strategic factors – has 'upended decades of hawkish foreign policy toward Russia'
-
What will Trump-Putin Ukraine peace deal look like?
Today's Big Question US president 'blindsides' European and UK leaders, indicating Ukraine must concede seized territory and forget about Nato membership
-
Ukraine's disappearing army
Under the Radar Every day unwilling conscripts and disillusioned veterans are fleeing the front
-
Cuba's mercenaries fighting against Ukraine
The Explainer Young men lured by high salaries and Russian citizenship to enlist for a year are now trapped on front lines of war indefinitely
-
Ukraine-Russia: are both sides readying for nuclear war?
Today's Big Question Putin changes doctrine to lower threshold for atomic weapons after Ukraine strikes with Western missiles
-
What would happen if Russia declared war on Nato?
In depth Response to an attack on UK or other Western allies would be 'overwhelming'