ONLINE VOTE: Who is Putin’s Best French Friend?

29/07/2016

3 minute read

Marine Le Pen, Nicolas Sarcozy, Thierry Mariani, Alexander Orlov, and Yves Pozzo di Borgo have all done their fair share to serve Putin. But who has done the most?

ONLINE VOTE: Who is Putin’s Best French Friend?

On the eve of their arrival to occupied Crimea, five French MPs from the Friends of Putin club are competing for the honorary title “Putin’s Best French Friend.”

They are part of a group of 11 French MPs that, after entering illegally entering Crimea from Russia on 28 July, will meet with self-proclaimed “authorities” of the Russian-occupied peninsula and on 31 July will join a celebration of the Day of the Russian Navy. It were unmarked soldiers of the Russian Navy in disguise who were instrumental in the illegal annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula in February-March 2014 and subsequent sham “referendum” at gunpoint.

The Friends of Putin Club has asked Euromaidan Press readers to help determine who among the five politicians is worthy to carry the title of Putin’s Best French Friend. Cast your vote in the poll below!

[socialpoll id=”2377535″]

1. “Ukrainian nationalists came to power in Kyiv [and are] terrorizing the Russian population and glorifying the Nazi collaborators.”

1orlov

Alexandr Orlov, “The Сhief.” He is the currently serving Ambassador of the Russian Federation to France. As on official representative of Russia, he denies the presence of Russian troops in Ukraine and considers the annexation of Crimea perfectly legal, as well as spreads the Russian false narrative that Nazis have come to power in Ukraine. A fine connaisseur of french culture and politics, his receptions organised at the embassy in Paris are known to attract many people, especially those interested in Russian affairs. To add an extra-spicy touch to these parties, he is known to smuggle wine from occupied Crimea via diplomatic post.

2. “First, anti-Russian sanctions should be lifted, second – sanctions should be imposed on Ukraine.”

5mariani

Thierry Mariani, “The Travel Agent.” He is the MP representative of French citizens living abroad. His constituency is the largest and he takes advantage of it to travel around the world. He also organises “tours” for his fellow deputies, namely to meet Assad in Syria, or to Crimea, to underline the acceptance of violation of international law by certain MPs. Seems to have business ties to the sponsor of Russian terrorism in Donbas, Malofeev, via CFG Capital. He is the author of the resolution that demands the lifting of sanctions imposed on Russia and more recently has even called for sanctions on Ukraine. For him, talking of Human Rights makes no sense, and sanctions should be imposed on Ukraine.

3. “These Ukrainians pollute all meetings, highlighting their problem.”

2Yves

Yves Pozzo di Borgo, “The Tourist.” He is a French senator and representative in the OSCE parliamentary assembly. Co-author of the resolution voted by the French Senate demanding sanctions against Russia be lifted. Known for posting many travel photos through his twitter account, including those from occupied Crimea, he became famous after buying a t-shirt with “Obama is a d*ck-head” written on it. Recently expressed his irritation by Ukraine: “These Ukrainian pollute all meetings highlighting their problem.”

4. “If I’m elected, France could recognize Crimea as Russian.”

3lepen

Marine Le Pen, “The Indebted.” She is a French far-right politician and a big fan of Putin. Her party was the first in France to consider the annexation of Crimea legal, after which it got a 12 million euro loan from a bank with strong connections to the Russian FSB\KGB. It has been shown that the Le Pen family is in contact with the sponsor of Russian terrorism in Donbas, Malofeev, and the fascist ideologist Dugin.

5. “We must find the means to create a peacekeeping force to protect Russian speakers in Ukraine”

4sarkozy

Nicolas Sarkozy, “The Godfather.” He is the former president of France and probable candidate for the 2017 presidential elections. He pressured France to sign the Mistral deal with Russia, just after the military intervention in Georgia. He is well known for reproducing the Kremlin rhetoric, such as legitimising the annexation of Crimea, and asking to send in a peacekeeping force to protect Russian speakers, one of Putin’s myths to legitimise an invasion of Ukraine, in his speeches. He has been notedDuring his visit to the economic forum in Saint-Petersburg, he talked about lifting the sanctions imposed on Russia, asking Putin to make the first step.

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March 27: First Deputy Speaker of Parliament Andriy Parubiy has said that Russia could try to carry out a large-scale invasion in the nearest future

March 27 – Polish prosecutors charged two Russian flight operations officers with involvement in the crash of Tu-154 near Smolensk on April 10th, 2010 (the plane was carrying President Lech Kaczynski), reports Wprost. According to military prosecutor Ireneusz Shelonk, they are accused of creating a situation which resulted in immediate danger as well as inadvertently causing disaster within airspace. Warsaw plans to summon these flight operations officers for questioning as suspects. The airplane, which was carrying Polish President Lech Kaczynski and another 96 people, crashed, while landing in heavy fog and low visibility at an airfield Smolensk-North. All passengers and crew members died.

March 27 – During the night the militants fired at ATO positions 8 times as well as used heavy artillery – ATO's press center.

March 27 – First Deputy Speaker of Ukrainian Parliament Andriy Parubiy has said that Russia could try to carry out a large-scale invasion in the nearest future in order to have it over and dome with by May 9th, as planned by Putin. "Large number of troops is located close to the border of Ukraine with Russia. Many reports state, and this is no secret, that in the next week there is a high risk of large-scale military operation", – said Parubiy. "The operation must be carried out brilliantly before May 9th, believes Putin, and thus demonstrate the power of the Russian army. Therefore, we need lethal weapons not "when they invade Mariupol" but urgently".

March 27 – Every eight soldier joined the army on his own initiative, voluntarily. The plan of mobilization from January 20th to April 20th of 52,000 army obligated recruits into the Armed Forces of Ukraine has, as of today, been 76% fulfilled, informed at a briefing the Press Secretary of the General Staff, Vladislav Selezniov. According to him, every eight one of this number is a volunteer. Selezniov added that more than half of the plan of mobilizing of transport vehicles – the transfer of automobiles for the uses of the arm – has been fulfilled. Overall, in 2015, it is planned to call up into the army 104,000 individuals within the two mobilization stages. The first phase started on January 20th and will last for 90 days.

March 27 – Premier Arseniy Yatseniuk commissioned to involve European and American investigators in the battle against corruption in Ukraine. "Right now we have a form of the so-called international investigation commission, but I am asking that the Ministry of Internal Affairs to introduce a change in the law, so that we, according to the decision of the investigator, could involve into the carrying out of the investigative actions, professional representatives from the USA and separate EU countries, so that they could help us in the investigation of criminal cases, assist us in tracing the foreign assets and officials, and other people, suspected of corruption," he noted.

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Taras Kuzio: far more Europeans join separatists in Donbas than Isis in Syria:

Taras Kuzio: far more Europeans join separatists in Donbas than Isis in Syria

This week, St Petersburg hosted a bizarre gathering organized by the Rodina (Motherland) party of 150 European fascist and nationalist-populist political parties united in their opposition to the EU and US and in support of Russia's annexation of Crimea and invasion of eastern Ukraine. Rodina is the loyal nationalist ally of President Vladimir Putin's United Russia party and consequently plays a similar role to the Radical Party's alliance with the Serbian Socialist party.

Russia's alignment with European fascist and nationalist-populist parties would seem to contradict official rhetoric that has incessantly attacked the Ukrainian Euromaidan leaders as a fascist junta brought to power by western intelligence agencies. It also, as Timothy Snyder of Yale University has pointed, out recalls uncanny memories of the 1939-1941 Soviet-Nazi Pact that also had the goal of dividing European powers.

One sinister outgrowth of Russia's cultivation of extreme right and extreme left parties and movements in Europe is the large mobilisation of people travelling to the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine to fight for pro-Russian separatists.

There has been understandable outcry over the three young British girls who travelled to Istanbul on February 17 on their way to join Isis, the brutal terrorist organization based in Syria and Iraq. But what has gone unnoticed is the hundreds – far more Europeans than have travelled to join Isis – who have joined Russian-backed terrorists fighting Ukraine's legitimately elected leaders. The BBC reported that the influx of foreign fighters into eastern Ukraine "mirrors that of young Muslims from Britain and other parts of Europe travelling to the Middle East to fight in its wars".

Russian-backed separatists have attracted an eclectic mix of extreme left and extreme right followers, nostalgic in the former case for the USSR and the Spanish civil war and in the latter drawn by a common anti-EU and anti-US platform with Putin and the Donbas separatists. Greeks, traditionally the most pro-Russian nationals in the EU, the Hungarian Legion of St Isztvan, Serbs, French, Germans, Spaniards and volunteers from former Soviet republics such as Kyrgyzstan are fighting alongside separatists widely condemned by the UN and international human rights groups for crimes against humanity.

The eclectic group has included 20 Frenchmen from the fascist organisation Continental Unity formed in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Serbian war crimes suspect Vojislav Seselj. France's far right National Front party has strongly supported Russia's annexation of the Crimea and invasion of Eastern Ukraine and has received a $10 million loan from Russia.

Not surprisingly, there are reportedly over 100 extreme right Serbs fighting for what they see as a common Orthodox religious faith and historic ally. Russian nationalist Igor Girkin "Strelkov" ("Shooter") who commanded Russian special forces in western Donbas until summer of 2014 had fought for the Bosnian Serbs in the 1990s.

One hundred extreme right Germans are fighting alongside the terrorists according to Die Welt. Stephan Mayer, a member of the ruling Christian Democrats, told Die Welt that Germans who participate in civil wars should be taken to court, although presently the German criminal code only punishes those who fight alongside Isis.

The Spanish Republican Guard detained a group of extreme left-wing Spaniards on their return from eastern Ukraine. Angel Davilla-Rivas, one of the Spaniards, has two big tattoos of Soviet leaders Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin and explained his decision to go to Eastern Ukraine as "gratitude" for Stalin's support for the Spanish Republicans in the 1930s.

British volunteers have not reportedly gone to fight for the Donbas separatists, although the National Front (NF) and UKIP have given their support to Putin, and the NF attended this weeks St Petersburg conference. The Conservative Friends of Russia, renamed the Westminster Russia Forum after a critical in-depthinvestigation by The Guardian, has been functioning as a pro-Kremlin lobby group with extensive support from Sergey Nalobin at the Russian Embassy in London.

British journalist Graham Phillips, who moved from the Conservatives to UKIP, has sent numerous pro-separatist reports for Russian media outlets and was detained on March 4 at Heathrow and questioned for four hours by Border Police under Schedule 7 of the 2000 Terrorism Act about his activities in the Donbas before being released without charge. The British Foreign Office is allegedly pressuring Phillips to halt his reporting from the Donbas.

Phillips does not hide his political sympathies for pro-Russian separatists and does not attempt to be impartial in a conflict zone, posting photos of him wearing lapel badges of Novorossiya (New Russia, the Tsarist term used by Putin and separatists to describe Eastern and Southern Ukraine) and cheering after separatists captured the strategic railway hub of Debaltseve.

Phillips' notoriety came into the public domain late last year when he interviewed Ukrainian prisoners and a wounded Ukrainian soldier. In the interviews, herepeatedly demands the prisoners explain why they have come to "murder civilians" and asks are they "ready to go home now and accept that it is Novorossiya here and not Ukraine". In the second interview Phillips aggressively interviews a severely burnt Ukrainian soldier prisoner.

European law enforcement have been understandably concerned at their citizens travelling to join Isis, yet they have largely ignored the many more far right and far left extremists that are fighting for pro-Russian groups in Ukraine. Recent detentions in Spain and the UK were hesitant, because law enforcement officers still lack political direction as to how to respond to Russia's support for the separatists.

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