His testimony has already caused a lot of talk in France in recent weeks: Adrien Bocquet accumulates TV appearances and incriminating investigations. This former soldier went to Ukraine for a humanitarian mission. He claims to have seenin the Boutcha region, Ukrainian soldiers shoot Russian prisoners of war.
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Except that, since his first media appearances, his testimony has been seriously questioned by several journalistic investigations. Articles that should not have reached Russia, where state TV rolled out the red carpet for him on the first channel this Tuesday, June 7, 2022.
The Frenchman had the honors of Vremyathe most watched news program in Russia: “French volunteer Adrien Bocquet is an extremely embarrassing witness for the kyiv authorities“, says the presenter presenting this “exceptional witness” of the Kremlin’s special operation in Ukraine. Facing the camera, on Red Square, then in an office, the Russians were able to see him comment on a video where we recognize Russian soldiers prisoners, shot dead by Ukrainian soldiers. “I saw this gentleman alive. And a few minutes later, his skull had exploded”he explains in French.
For state television, this witness has “understood how the methods of warfare of Ukrainian nationalists differ from Russian units“. If the video appears authentic, as reviewed by the New York Times dating her from around March 30, the testimony of this French “humanitarian” seems on the other hand much more questionable. The presence of Adrien Bocquet on the scene has never been proven. It was not he who shot these images and the Ukrainian embassy in France affirms that he entered Ukraine a few days after this shooting, as already underlined by investigations by Release and the Ukrainian collective stopfake.
This testimony has many inconsistencies but which obviously did not bother Russian television. The testimony of Adrien Bocquet has the advantage of sticking perfectly to the discourse of the Kremlin, especially when he too asserts that neo-Nazis are everywhere in Ukraine.
Russian journalists have even noticed that he wore on his bulletproof vest the crest of a Ukrainian ultra-nationalist group, banned in Russia: “Right Sector”. Embarrassed, the French then replied that he did not know. “I was told it was resistance. If I had known, I certainly wouldn’t have put it.“, he confessed.
According to Russia, the Boutcha massacre, where the bodies of civilians were discovered after the withdrawal of troops sent by the Kremlin, would only be a “staged”. The story does not say if this French “humanitarian” was invited to Moscow by public television or if he came on his own. Despite several attempts, we were unable to reach him.