RFI

RFI (Radio France Internationale) is a French public international broadcaster founded in 1975, funded by the French state, and transmitting in 23 languages to an estimated 35 million weekly listeners across Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and Europe. It operates alongside France 24 and Monte Carlo Doualiya under the France Médias Monde umbrella. RFI carries a mandate of editorial independence under its public service Charter, positioning it as a reference source for Francophone news audiences globally.

On 4 April 2026, RFI published an investigation revealing that over 200 Ukrainian officers and specialists had been stationed at two sites in Libya: the Misrata Air Force Academy, shared with Turkish, Italian, US AFRICOM, and British intelligence personnel; and a drone launch facility at Ezzawiya port. The investigation disclosed that a Magura V5 naval drone launched from Ezzawiya had disabled the Russian LNG carrier Arctic Metagaz in the Mediterranean on 4 March.

The Libya investigation illustrates RFI's growing role in documenting the covert geographic spread of the Ukraine war. By publishing a story that Western governments and Ukraine sought to keep quiet, RFI demonstrated that French public media can break sensitive intelligence stories; the Libyan operation had apparently been underway for months before any English-language outlet reported it. The report carries significant diplomatic weight, implicating NATO allies in operations conducted from a non-NATO state's territory.