They were about 5,000 registered in the registers of the French embassy in Russia, before the outbreak of the war in Ukraine. How many French people are there today who stay in this country? Hard to say. Many left, recalled by their companies or by personal choice. Ou yet expelled, in the case of diplomats.
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Some are still there, despite the difficulties. This is the case of Benoît Lardy, boss of a travel agency, Tsar Voyage, which had up to 80 employees before the Covid-19. Today, there are no more than ten. “We are dormant, in reduced activity”, explains the entrepreneur. Inflation soared above 20%, “we don’t make money, we even lose it”. Even his family preferred to return. But he runs the shop.
“To close would be to destroy what we have created. We have to maintain a brand and a market position.”
Benoît Lardy, owner of Tsar Voyageat franceinfo
It is often for economic reasons that the French in Russia stay put. Françoise Rigard arrived in the country in 1998. As a commercial agent, she set up a catering company. Almost 25 years after his departure, no one really expects him in France. “All my money is here, in this company and in the house that I own.explains Françoise Rigard. As a citizen of an unfriendly country, if I sell my property, I couldn’t even get the money back… And then, I can’t run my business remotely. What would I do in France? Touch the RSA? It’s not very exciting.”
Others frankly think they have a future in Russia. Because of, or rather thanks to, the crisis: like those who convert from the energy sector to IT services. These are more discreet and do not all wish to express themselves. Without necessarily seeking to retrain, many simply do not want to miss the opportunity to develop their business. VSike Axel Nagy, a Bordelais who created a company that markets pies. “We have real development opportunitieshe says. Leaving now would be a shame. I am convinced that there is something to be done.” Him sees it as a form of responsibility: “I have about ten employees, I’m the one who pays the salaries. It’s my duty to stay.”
It is difficult for these French people who have remained in Russia to explain to their family and their friends in France that they are staying in a country which is gradually becoming a pariah state. A question is in everyone’s mind: how to reconcile his love of a country and the disgust that the period inspires in you? Especially when you have lived there for sometimes almost 30 years like Muriel Rousseau-Ovtchinikov. For this artist-creator, married to a Russian, the situation is complicated: “We live an increasingly schizophrenic life. Many find it very shocking. Me, in my head, even if I live moments of total depression and great despair, I try to concentrate on my bubble, and not on what is happening around us.”
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What is complicated for her is less so for others, like Axel Nagy, who looks at this conflict with a rather Russian look: “I have quite a few friends who tell me that I am a kind of Putin spy, because I am against this war but I understand it. Friends who only watch the French media and who think that the Russians are bad. It’s hard to explain that it’s not all black and white.”
“For me, there is no aggressor and assaulted… This conflict was latent and at some point it had to burst.”
Axel, French who stayed in Russiaat franceinfo
Many French people nevertheless prefer to keep their distance from the political situation and do not talk about Ukraine. In this they are very Russian. As a well-known business leader here explains, basically many of them hoped they would be in kyiv in three days, so they could move on. It’s been more than 100 days, and no one sees clearly. But in Russia more than elsewhere, the future is unpredictable. “It is a country full of paradoxes, surprises, twists and revolutionsexplains Benoit Lardy. So for the future I have absolutely no idea.” Some of them have adopted this Russian maxim that we hear all the time: “Всё будет хорошо” – “Everything will be fine”.