Elsa Vidal: “Putin’s Russia can only survive through war”

2/29/2024, 6:14:58 AM

Highlights: Elsa Vidal: “Putin’s Russia can only survive through war” In a book, the journalist deciphers French illusions about Russian society and power. There is a sense of resentment among the French at having been saved twice by the Americans. But there is also a particular affinity for Russia, this empire that does not want to die. The cult of the strong man and vertical power also nourishes nostalgia for a fantasized France. I would add a certain resentment from the French army, which has suffered numerous budget cuts in recent decades.

INTERVIEW - In a book, the journalist deciphers French illusions about Russian society and power.

Elsa Vidal is responsible for RFI's Russian editorial staff.

She has just published

Russian Fascination.
French politics: thirty years of complacency towards Russia

, published by Éditions Robert Laffont.

To discover

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LE FIGARO.

- Where does the French fascination with Russia come from?

Elsa VIDAL.

First of all, anti-Americanism, which has never really been questioned.

There is a sense of resentment among the French at having been saved twice by the Americans.

But there is also a particular affinity for Russia, this empire that does not want to die.

While the French Empire was dismantled twice, the Russian Empire was reborn from its ashes twice: with the Bolsheviks then with Vladimir Putin.

The cult of the strong man and vertical power also nourishes nostalgia for a fantasized France.

She explains this permanent game of mirrors between Paris and Moscow.

I would add a certain resentment from the French army, which has suffered numerous budget cuts in recent decades and has had to…

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