Two steps in Russia’s recent rapprochement with France stand out. The energy giant Gaz de France Suez became involved in the natural gas pipeline, Nord Stream, that will link Russia and the European Union via the Baltic Sea. And, secondly, new agreements have been concluded to sell French weapons to Russia.
The latest news is that Vladimir Kozhin, the brilliant head of the Kremlin’s property department, has proposed to Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev the purchase of a plot of land for an Orthodox cathedral just a few steps away from the Eiffel Tower. Not only that, but the plan also includes setting up a new cultural and religious centre.
No one can tell whether anything will come of these epoch-making proposals.
But one thing is clear – there is a pungent whiff of the Romanovs in the Kremlin.
Source: Corriere della Sera, June 1.
There is a spectàcular Russian Orthodox church in Nice. For most old line Frenchmen this beats a mosque.
And I once visited a Russian Orthodox convent in Burgundy and had a tête-à-tête with the Mother Superior.
Don’t forget the golden Greek church in Wiesbaden.
Sorry, I don’t remember it. But I do remember the Russian Orthodox Church in Baden Baden