In recent weeks, Emmanuel Macron’s announcements have been noticed in eastern Europe: Western military instructors could be deployed in Ukraine, kyiv can now strike targets in Russia using Western weapons and the Russian delegation had its invitation withdrawn to the landing ceremonies. Each time, the initiative was taken by French diplomacy. “One by one, the French president is erasing the red lines that the West had set for two years on Ukraine,” notes the Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta.
This French activism goes down badly in the media close to the Kremlin, which targets the tenant of the Elysée. “Emmanuel Jean-Michel Frédéric Macron [NDLR : le nom complet du président de la République] is now perceived as the main opponent of the Russian Federation, a particularly harmful character, underlines the economic newspaper Kommersant. He was never an ally, but until now we could treat him with simple condescension. Now he has completely shifted to the wrong side: he provokes, he threatens and only defends his own interests.”
A strange Cold War nostalgia
According to this Moscow newspaper, the cancellation of the invitation to the 80th anniversary of the Normandy landings constitutes a singular affront for Russian diplomacy: “The Second World War remained a link between us, but apparently the French have decided to turn the page. Nowadays, everyone has their own dates of remembrance, their own celebrations. After all, History has always been held hostage by politics…”
In these days of tension, the Russian press is nostalgic for a distant era, made up of clear disagreements between countries and established geopolitical blocs. In short, the Cold War. “On the other side of the Iron Curtain, the world was governed by stern men and iron ladies, in the worst cases by dashing colonels,” says the newspaper. Moskovsky Komsomolets. They didn’t like our own generals, they didn’t like us at all. They were enemies, but their words had some value. They were replaced by Macrons…”
On state television, the anti-French discourse has also reached a milestone. On May 30, star presenter Vladimir Soloviev, on Rossiya 1, assured that “Paris should be wary, especially with the Olympic Games approaching.” Draped in black among his guests, he continued: “If we strike, there will be no more Olympic Games… The sponsors will not be happy. Or I propose to strike France, then we organize the Olympic Games at We.” The same man hesitated, at the beginning of March, over the identity of the first French city to be bombed: “Paris or Marseille? Or perhaps Lyon, a beautiful city which has a festival of lights.”
Bluff or worrying ramblings? From Soloviev, a TV host capable of whispering in Vladimir Putin’s ear, anything is possible.