We republish here information about prominent pro-russian organizations in Europe. First article is about the Association known as Franco-Russe Dialogue, which helped a lot to increase Russian influence in France. Key players are Bernard Lozé and Thierry Mariani.
This Association known as Franco-Russe Dialogue (FRD) was founded in 2004, in the heart of France, Paris. It was placed, from its creation, under the patronage of French and Russian presidents Jacques Chirac and Vladimir Putin.
What are the main problems with organization? FRD’s organizational portfolio contains sanctioned senior leadership (Putin and Yakunin); working closely with a sanctioned diplomacy fund; their co-president previously playing the role of “observer” for internationally condemned elections.
Key figures: Vladimir Yakunin, Bernard Lozé, Thierry Mariani. All 3 figures served as the Honorary President of FRD until at least February 2022. Vladimir Yakunin possesses a unique resume that consists of being former KGB, a sanctioned oligarch and a currently serving trustee for the EU-sanctioned Russian Gorchakov Public Diplomacy Fund.
And the second role player – Bernard Lozé as of October 2021, Bernard Lozé worked with Yukos and with the now-sanctioned Gazprombank.
Thierry Mariani serves as co-president of FRD as well as having occupied, until 2018, a seat on the “ethics committee” of the Kremlin-funded media outlet Russia Today (RT). He served in a board of CFG Capital, engaged in a joint economic investment fund with Russian oligarch Konstantin Malofeev’s Marshall Capital; both Malofeev and Marshall have been under US sanctions since 2014.
In the summer of 2016, Thierry Mariani led a group of 11 MEPs (Member of the European Parliament) to visit Crimea, a territory illegally annexed by Russia; furthermore, this visit was condemned by both Ukrainian and French foreign ministries.
