The former French ambassador to Moscow, Jean-Maurice Ripper, believes this the Russian president is “a victim of his own imprisonment” in front of the European Union.
Jean-Maurice Ripper is a diplomat, former French ambassador to Russia from 2013 to 2017, during the annexation of Crimea and the war in Donbass, then to China from 2017 to 2019. He analyzes the attitude of the Russian president and his vision of ‘Europe before the world.
“Vladimir Putin came to power in 1999 at a time when Europe was strengthening its union, while Russia mainly maintained bilateral relations with each country. He was a KGB lieutenant colonel, a former master of the art of networks, in a predation system born in the 1990s, especially in St. Petersburg, and who did not hesitate very quickly to demonstrate that he would use force, as in Chechnya. “, points out.
“We accepted him as president of Russia. We expected the country to return to its old demons. “says Ripper.
According to him, Putin continued his predatory policy. “It ended up being a caricature. She failed to see that the European Union was becoming a power. He didn’t understand that the world had changed, “the diplomat said.
In his words Russia is supposed to be the richest country on the planet, but it is still a rich country inhabited by poor people.
“In passing, I remind you that this is the only place in the world where you can take a bill to parliament in the morning and see it enacted the same evening – the Russians called it the ‘mad printer’,” Ripper points out.
He also says that when asked if Vladimir Putin was insane, neuropsychiatrist Boris Tsirulnik replied that the president of Russia had the rationality of his delirium. The Russian president is thinking completely rationally, which has little to do with reality, according to the former French ambassador to Russia.
