PARIS, October 23. /TASS/. French intelligence services don’t rule out that Russia may have a role in fanning the bedbug panic in the country, the RMC radio station said on Monday.

According to the radio station, "this theory is taken very seriously by the French intelligence." It stated that the French have been anxious about bedbugs reportedly seen on trains, in buses, and cinemas for more than a month. The authorities are thinking of how to find a solution to this problem. The country’s intelligence services believe that the bedbug panic is being fanned by Russians who are disseminating false information on social networks, RMC said.

It claims that some Telegram channels allegedly linked with Russia posted texts they claimed to have been taken from the French media. However, such texts have never been published in these media.

The topic was picked up first by the French and then by international media. Stephane Bras, a spokesperson for CS3D, a pest control trade group, told RMC that his phone was literally hot because of never-stopping calls from the BBC, The New York Times, and European media, which pictured France as being invaded by bedbugs all over. Moreover, Morocco and Algeria demanded that ship arriving from France be thoroughly treated against pests.

The radio station admitted however that bedbug numbers have been steadily rising for some 20 years.