“Putin is the perfect devil for the US and NATO”

Interview with Philippe de Villiers*, French politician and writer

Le Figaro: What do you think of the Minsk Agreement, which was negotiated by François Hollande and Angela Merkel with Vladimir Putin?

Philippe de Villiers: The Minsk agreement is very important because it includes four innovations. First of all, they allowed the war parties to step out of the logic of war. The diplomatic way of small steps might promise a peaceful future.
Second, two major European countries, France and Germany, led these negotiations and sided with Russia as guarantors for the implementation of the treaty. It is obvious that neither the European Union nor the United States have the ability or determination to establish peace in the area. This agreement shows that only when Europe speaks with Europe a true peace is possible. This corresponds to a Europe of nation states.
Third, this agreement paves the way to maintain the only possible solution, the territorial integrity of Ukraine. It takes the consent of Kiev to grant a special status to the East of the country with the right to the Russian mother tongue. Finally, contrary to the one of September, the current agreement contains a time frame for the individual implementation phases.

For once, you agree with an initiative taken by François Hollande?

Yes, because Europe must no longer rely on American standards for its future. François Hollande has acted as a head of state, regardless of the American statements. He has opposed Ukraine’s accession to NATO as was required by the US. From now on France has to be encouraged to expand this first positive emancipatory phase. Now, François Hollande must deliver the Mistral ships to Russia and thus fulfill the trade agreement signed by France and funded by the Russians already with one billion euro. France must also lift the sanctions which are currently warlike acts and which punish the French economy even more than the Russian one. The US economy is in no way affected. But most importantly, rather than to fixate the structure of an artificial Europe of Maastricht prepare for a real, meaningful and sound future Europe, coupled with a great cultural and strategic partnership with Russia. One Europe from the Atlantic to the Urals.

The agreement has already been violated by the Ukrainian separatists. Is Vladimir Putin to be trusted?

When we return to the beginning of the events, one can clearly notice a construct of lies by the European Union and wishful thinking spread widely by the Western press. To my knowledge, the ceasefire on the front line is observed. The only exception is Debaltseve representing a special problem since it arose only shortly before the Minsk Agreement. But even there, the heavy weapons are withdrawn now. The control processes are established and the state leaders talk to each other. If the media claim that Russian trucks carrying humanitarian aid have loaded ammunition and cross the Ukrainian border, I certainly ask myself: Why is no evidence presented to us, in the age of satellites that see everything, in the age of iPhones filming everything? Where are the pictures?

The concept of leisure parks “Puy du Fou” with historical themes will also be taken on in Russia. Is your full support of Vladimir Putin to be seen in this context as well?

Quite the contrary. After I became familiar with Russia through the implementation of the Franco-Russian project, I discovered two things. First, Russia is profoundly European. Its entire culture, its elites and the people as a whole are focused on Europe. Solzhenitsyn had warned me “not to make the mistake of turning the back on Russia. It’s about our future.”
Furthermore, I discovered that Putin is a true statesman. I also understood why he is constantly criticized by the globalized elites in the West. The US want to make Europe the fifty-first star on the American flag. For this, they have to get the Europeans to further subject themselves to total NATO control. Vladimir Putin is the perfect excuse for the perfect devil. Let us not forget the real causes of the Ukrainian crisis. First, there was the coup instigated by NATO. Next, the Ukrainian government’s mistake to prohibit the Russian language. Finally, the American claim to integrate Ukraine into NATO. How could one ever come to get the idea that the Russians would accept NATO right on their doorstep? Vladimir Putin does not want a fragmentation of Ukraine. He just wants the recognition of the mother tongue in the Russian-speaking areas, a special status for these regions and the neutrality of Ukraine towards NATO.

Russia seems to regain its national pride. Is there not the risk of an excess of nationalism?

The difference with France is the following. In Russia there is a real restoration of the moral, civic, patriotic and spiritual values. Younger Russians learn the pride to be Russian. Amongst the Russians one speaks positively about one’s own country, about its size, its rich heritage and its Eurasian appearance. What do the young Frenchmen hear all the time? That they have to be ashamed of France, that the French are racists and that patriotism is a flaw. There is more freedom of speech in Russia than in our country. As Philippe Muray has predicted, we are caught in a cage of “phobias” – islamophobia, xenophobia, europhobia and homophobia. No one dares to move anymore! There is a spin-dry, sterilized, soft-boiled political class, that praises the division of labor between the secularists that create the spiritual void and the Islamists who fill this void.

Doesn’t this also prevent the Russians from being confronted with strong ethnic and cultural tensions?

The difference for integration “French Style” is obvious. With 140 million inhabitants there are 20 million Muslims in Russia. Vladimir Putin applies the old principle of caution. “In Rome you live as Romans, in Russia as Russians.” In France, there are those who want to make believe that secularism and the “faith in human right” are sufficient to solve the problem. They are nothing else but manipulators or cowards. There is only one type of integration in our country. It is Frenchifying!

If the negotiations between the European Union and Greece stagnate, can Tsipras turn to Russia?

For the European oligarchy, Alexis Tsipras is committing a mortal sin. Soon, he will be sacrificed on the Parthenon, because he does not prostrate before the euro and admits his predisposition towards Russia. He even finds positive things to say about the “devil”. But the worshipers of Brussels and Frankfurt have still not understood that the euro will bring no salvation to the European economies. Greece will leave the euro, negotiations may only postpone the due date. This entire European construction is nothing but a deadly deconstruction. Today’s European Union is a crazy, miraculous attempt to resolve the states and borders and to abandon the people with their valuable work to surrender themselves to the masters of globalization so that the latter can continue to scoop up huge profits.

What could the future of Europe look like?

The free trade agreement concocted by the Eurocrats and the globalized elites to transform Europe into a secondary market of USA, destroys our future and contradicts any common sense. What I accuse this “Europe” of is that it becomes an American Europe, a mere economic and cultural adjunct of the United States. In order to predict the future, one might say, “The European Union is dead, long live Europe”! The real, the great Europe, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, the Europe that rediscovers the true cradle of its traditional cultural alliances. The Europe of the Queen Anne of Kiev, the Russian queen who married a French king. The Europe that rediscovers the good old ideas which govern the world since the triptych “sovereignty, borders, identities” was invented from the experience of mankind. •

* Philippe de Villiers, born on 25 March 1949 in Boulogne (Vendée), is a French politician and writer. He is the founder of the sovereigntist party “Mouvement pour la France” (MPF) and founder of the leisure park “Puy du Fou” (Vendée) with theatre plays on the history of France. From 1988 to 2010 he was president of the General Council [Conseil général] of the department Vendée. From 1987 to 1994 and from 1997 to 2004 he was a member of the French National Assembly. From 1994 to 1997 and from 2004 to 2014 he was a member of the EU Parliament. In 1995 and 2007 he was a candidate in the French presidential elections. His latest book “Le Roman de Jeanne d‘Arc” was published by Albin Michel in November 2014.

Source: Le Figaro of 23.2.2015,

(Translation Current Concerns)