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PARIS — From Lenin to Turgenev, Paris has been the adopted dwelling of numerous well-known Russians, usually lured by the town’s free and revolutionary spirit.
However since Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine, the Metropolis of Mild has turn out to be a hostile floor for Russian residents.
Whether or not or not they assist Russian President Vladimir Putin, many admit that the conflict in Ukraine has turn out to be an more and more sore topic in France they usually concern turning into targets of retaliation amid rising anti-Russia sentiment.
“There are individuals who really feel ashamed of being Russians right here,” mentioned Irina Krivova, the administrator of the Alye Parussa Franco-Russian faculty in Paris. “However individuals should be cautious to not combine up Russia, Russian tradition and Russian leaders.”
Final week, an unidentified particular person lobbed a Molotov cocktail on the gates of the Russian Home of Science and Tradition, a serious cultural establishment within the French capital that promotes Franco-Russian ties. There have been no casualties, however the incident prompted the Russian overseas affairs ministry to “demand that the French authorities guarantee the correct safety of our official establishments.”
A number of days earlier, anti-Putin graffiti, together with calling the Russian chief a “pig,” coated a wall of the opulent, Kremlin-sponsored, Russian Cathédrale de la Sainte-Trinité in central Paris. On Monday, an indication on the constructing’s most important entrance mentioned occasions on the church and cultural heart had been “briefly suspended for administrative causes,” although a French police automobile was stationed close by and a safety guard admitted that it was closed “due to the conflict [in Ukraine].”
Such acts of vandalism provoked unease among the many many Russian residents in a rustic that has historically welcomed them, significantly after the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution. At present, there are as much as 200,000 Russians residing in France, in response to Russian consular estimates, together with “tens of hundreds” in Paris – making it one of many largest Russian diasporas in Western Europe.
There are additionally numerous associations selling ties between France and Russia, together with the Pals of Leo Tolstoy and the Franco-Russian Legal professionals Affiliation. Paul Leboulanger, a former journalism pupil, even created a web site referred to as “L’Ours Journal” — The Bear — that includes profiles of Russians in France and cultural occasions linked to Russia to “present what Russians do in France,” and “fulfill all these many individuals in France who’re keen on Russia,” he mentioned.
Many on this Russian diaspora, together with retailer house owners and the town’s Russian Orthodox neighborhood, admit they’ve needed to defend themselves in opposition to insults usually directed in opposition to Putin. Those that assist the Russian president say they undergo from a cussed lack of know-how amongst each French and Russians who’re victims, they are saying, of Western disinformation.
“For the reason that first day of the conflict, I take medicines to calm my nerves,” mentioned Marina, who owns La Troïka Russian grocery retailer. “This conflict doesn’t replicate the Russian nation, it’s not Russian literature, it’s a loopy one that is doing this,” she mentioned tearfully.
Marina mentioned a “Frenchman” got here into her store days after the conflict started and mentioned she “ought to be ashamed to be Russian.” She mentioned she replied that she was “not pro-Putin and he ended up apologizing.”
“Each my mom and grandmother had been born in Kharkiv,” she continued, referring to the japanese Ukrainian metropolis that has suffered repeated shelling by Russian forces. “We, Russians and Ukrainians, are all associates,” she added.
Additional safety
After studying concerning the anti-Putin graffiti on the Russian cathedral, Nicolas Lopoukhine employed a safety guard to maintain watch outdoors the Russian Orthodox church of Notre Dame de la Dormition in Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois, close to Paris, the place he works as treasurer. Lopoukhine, who can be treasurer for the archbishop’s workplace of Orthodox Church buildings of Russian Custom in Western Europe, later dismissed the guard as there was “no proof of any animosity in opposition to us,” he mentioned.
However he acknowledged that the conflict in Ukraine had turn out to be “a thorny concern” for his neighborhood. “Within the archbishop’s palace, there are completely different sensitivities,” Lopoukhine mentioned. “Our archbishop rose up in opposition to the conflict … however we even have people who find themselves very connected to the Russian nation, to the Russian president and to the patriarch [the head of the Russian Orthodox church].”
The conflict can be making life uncomfortable for individuals who again Putin and for individuals who work to advertise Russian tradition in France.
Anna Kouzin, a 65-year-old antiquarian, defends Putin and says French persons are “victims of Western disinformation.”
“I’m disillusioned, what I hear on TV listed below are lies,” Kouzin mentioned. “The conflict is between Russia and the US,” and “Ukraine relies on the U.S.,” including that Ukrainian President Volodymir Zelenskyy “does regardless of the U.S. asks him to do.”
However her views, she mentioned, have created such unease and misapprehension that she has give up work for some time to keep away from arguing along with her colleagues.
“A colleague informed me that Putin was Hitler, that it was like fascism, that Russia is responsible,” Kouzin mentioned. “I made a decision to cease working for 2 months.”
