“The immortals” is what members of the French Academy, founded by Cardinal de Richelieu, are called. The French Academy is cultivating a new friendship today – with Vladimir Putin.

The Academy’s permanent secretary Hélène Carrère d’Encausse, born in Georgia and author of numerous books on Russian history, has repeatedly received Putin in the Academy’s substantial domed building. Putin, she says, represents the long friendly familial relationship between France and remarkable Russia. The Permanent Secretary assured on 23 February 2022 that all talk of an imminent Russian invasion of Ukraine was a myth.

D’Encausse receives support from other academy members, for example, Andrej Makine. Makine talks about his friendly conversations with Putin: “He has such a mildly modest voice.” Makine says the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine is a “result of NATO’s criminal strategy.” The quotes and information are taken from the magazine L’Obs (February 9-15).

Another academy member says that Russian literature during the Stalin era was far superior to today’s French novels and adds that Crimea has always been and will always remain Russian.

Putin was even awarded a distinguished French order, presented by President Jacques Chirac.

Corrupt right-wing prime minister and presidential candidate François Fillon were paid by Putin and rewarded with a board seat in Russia’s oil company. The political right’s admiration for Putin’s Russia is rooted in the French Academy.

The Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa has recently taken a seat in the French Academy, on chair number 18. A great writer but, like many in the Academy, condescending to democracy. He campaigned for the fascist presidential candidate Bolsonaro and in Chile for the Nazi-influenced José Antonio Kast. Vargas Llosa joins “immortal” Academy members such as Philippe Pétain, the Nazi collaborator and ruler of the Vichy regime.

Education and intelligence do not always equal having an ethical compass.