The Kremlin offered Friday to “explain” the conflict in Ukraine to Gérard Depardieu, believing that the famous French actor did not “understand” the situation after his release the day before on the “crazy drifts” of Vladimir Putin.
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On Thursday, Depardieu, holder of a Russian passport and usually glowing with Mr. Putin, criticized the offensive in Ukraine, saying that “the Russian people are not responsible for the crazy and unacceptable excesses of (its ) leaders like Vladimir Putin”.
“I think Depardieu probably doesn’t understand everything that’s going on, because he’s not totally immersed in political news,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov quipped on Friday.
“He does not understand (…) what are (the pro-Russian separatist regions in Ukraine of) Donetsk and Lugansk, he is not aware of the bombing of civilians”, of which Moscow accuses Kyiv, he added .
“If necessary, we are ready to tell him and explain it to him so that he understands better. If he wishes,” concluded Mr. Peskov.
As a sign of the annoyance aroused in Moscow by the critics of Depardieu, a Russian deputy, Soultan Khamzaev, called on the authorities to withdraw his Russian nationality and to transfer his real estate in the country to charities.
“It is important to talk about the need to withdraw his passport from Gérard Depardieu for his presumptuous attacks and his claim to speak on behalf of the Russian people, who have not delegated this right to him,” said Mr. Khamzaev, quoted by the Russian agencies.
Depardieu, sacred monster of French cinema, has had a Russian passport since 2013, a document handed over personally by Mr. Putin, whom he has showered with praise in recent years, comparing him, for example, to Pope John Paul II.
But after the outbreak of the Russian offensive in Ukraine on February 24, the French actor expressed his opposition to this “fratricidal war”, calling on March 1 to “stop arms and negotiate”.