Putin does like to be beside the seaside. Credit: VLADIMIR RODIONOV/ITAR-TASS/AFP via Getty Images
“Slava Ukraina”. Glory to Ukraine. So reads an anti-war graffito sprayed on a wall. But not any old wall. It daubs the gateway of Villa Suzanna, avenue des Dunes, outside Biarritz. An extravagant 1927 Art Deco residence facing the Atlantic Ocean, Villa Suzanna is owned by Vladimir Putin’s ex-wife, Lyudmila. Hence the accompanying tag on the gates, “Putin Suka”. Or in your basic Slavic, “Putin bitch”.
Londongrad may be where Russian oligarchs go for their financial transactions of various legitimacy, but La Belle France is where they play. Last weekend, France 2’s Journal, a TV news show given more to sobriety than sensationalism, took its viewers on a visual tour of how Russia’s new rich live it up locally, from the ski chalet in Courchevel to the Cap-quelque-chose-ou-autre summer house. What stuck on the retina — and in the French craw — were the pontoons running into the bright blue sea so that the oligarchs could park their yachts.
And what yachts! Amore Vero, owned by Igor Sechin, head of the Russian state oil company Rosneft, has a Thunderbirds-esque swimming pool that turns into a helipad. Worth £90 million, the Amore Vero has now been seized by French customs in a night-time raid on a dockyard near Marseille. “He is one of Vladimir Putin’s most trusted and closest advisers, as well as his personal friend”, the accompanying EU sanction notice alleges.
Some years ago, The Hollywood Reporter, covering the Cannes film festival, happened to ask a local estate agent how many ultra-rich Russians there were on the French Riviera. He estimated 20,000 of them. “They bring their funny money from Russia through Cypress into the Riviera. They’ve kept the market moving for 10 years. So they can be a little thuggish — who cares?” In a detail one would blush to make up, the secretive Kremlin billionaire Suleiman Kerimov (the subject of a long-running tax evasion and money laundering investigation by the French authorities) is believed to own the sumptuous villa on the Cap d’Antibes used in the Michael Caine movie Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.
The Med may be the place for Putin’s friends, but the family and the real intimates head to Biarritz for their holidays. France’s glittering south-west coast has been irresistible to rich Russians since the middle of the 19th century. (It was once dubbed the “queen of resorts and the resort of kings.”) Flunkies of the imperial court came both for the climate and for the coddling offered by the beach-side Hôtel du Palais, originally built in the 1850s for the French Empress Eugénie. And it was in Biarritz that the then-head of the Federal Security Service received an urgent phone call from Boris Yeltsin, in the Summer 1999, asking him to become prime minister.
Around the same time Putin accepted the rule of all the existing Russias, and those to be regained, the Kremlin appointed an honorary vice consul in Biarritz, a town of less than 30,000 people. Nearby Bordeaux, France’s seventh largest city, received no diplomatic outpost. “It was because Putin’s circle has an affection for this place,” admitted the man selected for the job, otherwise known as biographer Alexandre de Miller de La Cerda. The “To Do” list of the Kremlin’s man in Biarritz has included hosting debutante balls in the casino for the children of the Russian elite — an opportunity for Putin’s courtiers to feel like the heirs to the czarist aristocracy. Indeed, a sojourn in Biarritz is an attempt to confer class and legitimacy on Russian’s nouveau riche.
As one might expect, the Putins are tight-lipped about their property holdings in Biarritz, though various news agencies have identified at least three, beginning with the villa located at 9, rue de la Frégate (the street once home to Igor Stravinsky), in the town centre, bought in 1996 for around $400,000. The title deed is in the name of one of Putin’s daughters. According to Time magazine, in 2012 another Putin daughter bought a property in the town with her husband, Kirill Shamalov, an oil-executive reputed to be worth $1.25 billion. (He is also one of the founders of Bank Rossiya, which the US Treasury Department identified in 2014 as the “personal bank” for Putin and his close associates.) The seller of the property was oil trader Gennady Timchenko, one of Putin’s oldest friends.
What’s wrong with buying a few holiday homes? Well, as a civil servant of the Russian state, Putin was barred in 1996 from taking money out of the country. He was also officially only earning circa $1,000 a month. Currently, the self-described “galley slave” ascetically proclaims no individual wealth at all, beyond a small plot of land, a modest pension pot, three Russian cars, a couple of homely apartments, and a Skif M1 trailer tent. Lyudmila Putin’s financial records, filed during her marriage to Putin, show only relatively miniscule sums. She supposedly earned just 121,000 rubles ($3,800) during the whole of 2012. The following year, Villa Suzanna was purchased in her name and that of her new husband, the head of a non-profit with no known money. The villa had been on the market for around £5 million.
“Luxury property is a preferred means of laundering money stemming from corruption or embezzlement of public funds”, Sara Brimbeuf of Transparency International France told France 24 News. When Time magazine asked Father Panteleimon, the priest at the Russian Orthodox Church in Biarritz, about the Kremlin elites who visited his parish, he replied: “what they do here just doesn’t look good.” Nor does it look good to French finance minister Bruno Le Maire, who has created a “task force” of customs officers, tax officers and ministry officials to draw up a list of oligarch-controlled assets in France and begin seizing them.
Fabien Roussel, the French Communist Party’s personable candidate in the upcoming election for the Élysée, tweeted a suggestion: storm the oligarch’s summer palaces and use them “to welcome refugees from Ukraine”. He got 2,500 likes; he normally gets a hundred. At the capitalist end of the French spectrum, luxury brands Hermès, Chanel and LMVH — all beloved of Russian oligarchs — have announced suspension of activity in Russia itself.
And the EU, of which France currently holds the presidency (and, a cynic would aver, always holds the political reins), has sanctioned 400 times more Russian entities than Downing Street. Le Maire claims that the total amount of Russian assets frozen amount to “almost 1,000 billion dollars”.
“No oligarch will slip through our net”, promises Le Maire, adding that oligarchs’ “partners, their children, their property holding companies” would be affected, “such that they won’t be able to hide behind financial constructs”. Like owning villas.
While Macron’s parlaying with Putin sometimes smacks of appeasement, his fellow Frenchmen are taking a harder line. It’s less Bienvenu à Biarritz, more “Fuck Poutine” — as another local daubing proclaims.
John Lewis-Stempel is a farmer and writer on nature and history. His most recent books are The Sheep’s Tale and Nightwalking.
JLewisStempel 
Join the discussion
Join like minded readers that support our journalism by becoming a paid subscriber
To join the discussion in the comments, become a paid subscriber.
Join like minded readers that support our journalism, read unlimited articles and enjoy other subscriber-only benefits.
SubscribeOne suspects this scandal may not end by way of a quiet voluntary retreat by the guilty, but through a series of litigations and their associated ginormous, profession-busting settlements.
It could go either way. The lawsuits are coming no doubt. We’ve already seen a trickle – a case in Canada, a few in the US. However, these medical associations are political bodies. I’m sure they see the writing on the wall and will skillfully retreat before they are held accountable.
They’ll certainly try; whether they’ll succeed -we’ll see.
I wish that you were wrong, but I know how medical specialty societies work. As the old saying goes, doctors bury their mistakes.
They’ll certainly try; whether they’ll succeed -we’ll see.
I wish that you were wrong, but I know how medical specialty societies work. As the old saying goes, doctors bury their mistakes.
In this type of litigation it’s medical liability insurance that first pay. After a few very expensive settlements, these insurance companies will restrict coverage, exposing physicians to financially catastrophic losses. That’s how these surgical and chemical castrations will stop. Too late for the kids harmed. And not soon enough for children exposed to ideological fanatics.
As a U.S. physician who deplores the whole predatory pediatric trans industry, I would welcome some malpractice suits. They won’t undo the tremendous physical and psychic damage done to many kids, but they may at the least help pay for ongoing care. And chastise the perpetrators.
Agreed, a couple of beheadings ‘pour encourager les autres’ as they say.
Agreed, a couple of beheadings ‘pour encourager les autres’ as they say.
It could go either way. The lawsuits are coming no doubt. We’ve already seen a trickle – a case in Canada, a few in the US. However, these medical associations are political bodies. I’m sure they see the writing on the wall and will skillfully retreat before they are held accountable.
In this type of litigation it’s medical liability insurance that first pay. After a few very expensive settlements, these insurance companies will restrict coverage, exposing physicians to financially catastrophic losses. That’s how these surgical and chemical castrations will stop. Too late for the kids harmed. And not soon enough for children exposed to ideological fanatics.
As a U.S. physician who deplores the whole predatory pediatric trans industry, I would welcome some malpractice suits. They won’t undo the tremendous physical and psychic damage done to many kids, but they may at the least help pay for ongoing care. And chastise the perpetrators.
One suspects this scandal may not end by way of a quiet voluntary retreat by the guilty, but through a series of litigations and their associated ginormous, profession-busting settlements.
I’ve gone right off the medical profession in the past few years. To put it mildly.
You are NOT alone.
You are NOT alone.
I’ve gone right off the medical profession in the past few years. To put it mildly.
That such odious vermin are entrusted with the care of children is obscene. Everyone involved with this state approved mutilation of children should be criminally prosecuted.
That such odious vermin are entrusted with the care of children is obscene. Everyone involved with this state approved mutilation of children should be criminally prosecuted.
The horror stories of detransitioners are starting to come out. I recently read of one in Canada who wanted to be euthanized but wasn’t allowed to:
https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/transgender-woman-denied-euthanasia-in-canada-over-post-surgical-pain-and-regret/
There will indeed be suicides, I’m afraid. The transgender folks have made a big deal about suicides by people who wanted to trans. Now, they are going to have to address the suicides by people who DID trans and then regretted it.
I cannot imagine how a boy who wakes up to realize what a crock the whole scheme that led to his castration was, but as he wakes up to the physical consequences day after day and realizes he will have to endure it for the rest of his life, it will be tough to reason him out of committing suicide.
There will indeed be suicides, I’m afraid. The transgender folks have made a big deal about suicides by people who wanted to trans. Now, they are going to have to address the suicides by people who DID trans and then regretted it.
I cannot imagine how a boy who wakes up to realize what a crock the whole scheme that led to his castration was, but as he wakes up to the physical consequences day after day and realizes he will have to endure it for the rest of his life, it will be tough to reason him out of committing suicide.
The horror stories of detransitioners are starting to come out. I recently read of one in Canada who wanted to be euthanized but wasn’t allowed to:
https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/transgender-woman-denied-euthanasia-in-canada-over-post-surgical-pain-and-regret/
We’ve kept the receipts.
We’ve kept the receipts.
I suppose we will see the same thing with net zero. You can already see the Tories retreating, even though they introduced most of the legislation. They’ll do it incrementally, approve some drilling permits here, argue against driving restrictions there. I’m sure the EV mandates will be pushed back to 2035 and then totally memory holed shortly later.
I agree, and i think the relevant expression is “kicked into the long grass” which i must admit, sounds suitably green.
I agree, and i think the relevant expression is “kicked into the long grass” which i must admit, sounds suitably green.
I suppose we will see the same thing with net zero. You can already see the Tories retreating, even though they introduced most of the legislation. They’ll do it incrementally, approve some drilling permits here, argue against driving restrictions there. I’m sure the EV mandates will be pushed back to 2035 and then totally memory holed shortly later.
‘This week, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) announced that it was setting out on the long road back to plausible deniability.’
This is a great turn of phrase, but if true, it is a good thing that the internet never forgets, and as Nik Jewell has pointed out, there are plenty of receipts.
‘This week, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) announced that it was setting out on the long road back to plausible deniability.’
This is a great turn of phrase, but if true, it is a good thing that the internet never forgets, and as Nik Jewell has pointed out, there are plenty of receipts.
“…taking birth control pills, getting an abortion, and telling little girls it’s okay to wear dresses are all gender-affirming care now. Who knew?”
If it wasn’t so serious & so tragic, I’d be holding my aching sides at the comedy value of this. How on earth have these once-trusted institutions travelled so far from their scientific roots? And from reality? It’s not as if we haven’t had sufficient warnings from history. Tyranny creeps in via distraction & sleight of hand.
it is interesting to try and look for the start of our current medical model: A important turning point can be traced back to the beginning of the 20th century when the Carnegie family sent out their emissaries to find out in which universities/colleges medics were taught to make potions you can sell. (In that time, medicine was practiced in many different ways) They then send their money to promote research to these medical schools who were specialised in the making of potions in order to find/develop ‘concoctions that can be sold’ . Here we are: we consider this high quality modern medicine now.
For the anecdote: Mr Rockefeller thought the world of homeopathy which he used as his medicine and set up his fund to promote research in this approach to health and disease. The guy who ran the fund then joined forces with the Carnegies…..
… and before you start throwing rotten tomatoes: https://www.ikim.unibe.ch/about_us/divisions/classical_homeopathy___potentiazed_substances/index_eng.html ….
it is interesting to try and look for the start of our current medical model: A important turning point can be traced back to the beginning of the 20th century when the Carnegie family sent out their emissaries to find out in which universities/colleges medics were taught to make potions you can sell. (In that time, medicine was practiced in many different ways) They then send their money to promote research to these medical schools who were specialised in the making of potions in order to find/develop ‘concoctions that can be sold’ . Here we are: we consider this high quality modern medicine now.
For the anecdote: Mr Rockefeller thought the world of homeopathy which he used as his medicine and set up his fund to promote research in this approach to health and disease. The guy who ran the fund then joined forces with the Carnegies…..
… and before you start throwing rotten tomatoes: https://www.ikim.unibe.ch/about_us/divisions/classical_homeopathy___potentiazed_substances/index_eng.html ….
“…taking birth control pills, getting an abortion, and telling little girls it’s okay to wear dresses are all gender-affirming care now. Who knew?”
If it wasn’t so serious & so tragic, I’d be holding my aching sides at the comedy value of this. How on earth have these once-trusted institutions travelled so far from their scientific roots? And from reality? It’s not as if we haven’t had sufficient warnings from history. Tyranny creeps in via distraction & sleight of hand.
Hugh Jarse is on the right track. Mot until the various medical insurance providers get involved will there be a “forgetting”.
Once the wallet is exposed quite a lot will change.
Not so easy for them to ‘forget’ their previous stance when it’s all out there in cyberspace…
Not so easy for them to ‘forget’ their previous stance when it’s all out there in cyberspace…
Hugh Jarse is on the right track. Mot until the various medical insurance providers get involved will there be a “forgetting”.
Once the wallet is exposed quite a lot will change.
Meanwhile, ongoing collateral damage.
Which WILL be simply enormous.
Which WILL be simply enormous.
Meanwhile, ongoing collateral damage.
See Milan Kundera’s novel / Black comedy ‘The book of laughter and forgetting’ which in part references living in a dystopian society built on lies.
See Milan Kundera’s novel / Black comedy ‘The book of laughter and forgetting’ which in part references living in a dystopian society built on lies.
Shorter: The Left tells lies and then lies about having told them.
Quite so. Even shorter: the Left lies and then metalies.
“Be careful when you point a finger. Remember: you’re pointing three back at yourself.”
Quite so. Even shorter: the Left lies and then metalies.
“Be careful when you point a finger. Remember: you’re pointing three back at yourself.”
Shorter: The Left tells lies and then lies about having told them.
Excellent article.
Excellent article.
In relation to medicine in general and certainly valid in this particular case, Ian McGilchrist wrote: It is significant that the ’normal’ scientific materialist view of the body is similar to that found in schizophrenia” (The Master and his emissary P439)
Luckily trends such as System view of life, One health, Integrative medicine may change our medical approaches for the better, unless the industry of health (illness) appropriates these concepts. Up to the people to stand up for a different kind of medicine…
Fine, as long as it doesn’t mean prescribing psychotherapy for appendicitis.
Fine, as long as it doesn’t mean prescribing psychotherapy for appendicitis.
In relation to medicine in general and certainly valid in this particular case, Ian McGilchrist wrote: It is significant that the ’normal’ scientific materialist view of the body is similar to that found in schizophrenia” (The Master and his emissary P439)
Luckily trends such as System view of life, One health, Integrative medicine may change our medical approaches for the better, unless the industry of health (illness) appropriates these concepts. Up to the people to stand up for a different kind of medicine…
Being memory-holed and recast as a minor adjustment (if it’s acknowledged at all) is probably the best one can hope for. Accountability is for the little people.
At best it will be seen as a minor issue that only far-right conspiracy theorists want to make a big deal of , and not one that should threaten the “but it’s just about being kind!” gender-affirmation model.