In the remains of soldiers, Russia devises a way to reconcile with France
On a recent cloudy afternoon, the remains of three Russian soldiers were buried in near secrecy in a small corner of northeastern France. There were no Russian officials at the funeral. No Russian flag was raised. No Russian national anthem was played.
The soldiers had died more than a century ago on the French battlefield, where they fought during World War I as part of the French-Russian alliance. But their remains, hidden deep beneath a farmer’s field, were only found late this summer – by a man with close ties to the Kremlin.
Concerned that Moscow might use the discovery as a propaganda ploy and aware of the new sensitivities generated by Russia’s war in Ukraine, French authorities took no chances with the burial.
“The ceremony took place very quickly and with a very limited attendance,” said Mayor Antonia Paquola of Saint-Hilaire-le-Grand, the village where the soldiers were buried in a small Russian military cemetery at the end of October. “You felt it was very exciting.”
Russia, however, was elated at the discovery of the remains of the fallen soldiers.
“A really great find,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry S. Peskov, adding that Russia should give France credit for burying the soldiers. Efforts are underway to find their descendants so they can come to France and honor them.
Moscow’s touting of the discovery is part of what analysts say is an attempt by Russia to use history for diplomatic purposes as it seeks to renew ties with the outside world and as some countries grow weary of the conflict in Ukraine.
The remains are an opportunity to “restore dialogue,” Alexandre Orlov, a longtime Russian ambassador to France until 2017, said in a recent interview.
Russia’s move has presented France with a thorny challenge. The country is still trying to shake off a reputation for being soft on Moscow, as evidenced by President Emmanuel Macron’s calls last year that Russia should not be humiliated. Paris has since offered strong support to Ukraine and backed its bid to join the European Union and NATO.
But France’s complicated relationship with Russia has long been shaped by a shared history of revolutions, empires and wars, raising concerns that Paris could prove an ideal target for backdoor diplomacy by Moscow.
“This case is one part of a much bigger Russian plan,” said Françoise Thom, professor of Russian history at Sorbonne University in Paris, adding that the case was representative of the “new Russian offensive in Europe, a charm offensive.”
More than 20,000 Russian troops were sent to fight in the French trenches during World War I. They took part in the bloody battle for the Chemin des Dames in April 1917, distinguishing themselves by capturing the village of Courcy, outside Reims, at the cost of almost 4,500 casualties.
Many of the Russian soldiers who died in France during the war were never found or buried. Every year, hikers and farmers in northeastern France come across a rusty helmet or gun, indicating that a soldier may lie underground.
But the recent discovery of the Russian soldiers was no coincidence.
It was orchestrated by Pierre Malinowski, an outspoken French amateur history buff and former assistant to Jean-Marie Le Pen, the longtime French far-right leader. Mr Malinowski has won the Kremlin’s good graces with a series of archaeological projects linking France and Russia, including the 2021 return of the remains of a Napoleonic general killed in Russia.
His historical foundation considers Elizaveta Peskova, Mr. Peskov’s daughter, as vice president, and he was granted Russian citizenship last year.
Nicolas Quénel, a French journalist and author of “Allô, Paris? Ici Moscow” (“Hello, Paris? Moscow here”), a book about Russian information warfare in France, said that Mr. Malinowski, who lives in Moscow, had become one of the Kremlin’s “unofficial ambassadors,” a key element in back-channel diplomacy with France.
After Ukraine’s massive invasion of Ukraine forced a freeze on his projects, Mr. Malinowski, he said, sought the advice of his foundation’s longtime backer, Andrei Kozitsyn, a Russian oligarch under European Union sanctions .
“At some point Russia will need you,” Mr. Malinowski recalled Mr. Kozitsyn telling him. He saw it as an encouragement to continue with his projects despite the war.
Having grown up near Courcy, Mr. Malinowski said he immediately thought of the Russian soldiers. He also knew it was a topic dear to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. which Courcy would visit in 2014 until the visit was derailed by Moscow’s illegal annexation of Crimea.
Mr. Malinowski traveled to Courcy last fall and began searching for the soldiers’ remains. The digging work was illegal, but he could count on the cooperation of the local farmers, whom he had known since his youth, and on their respect for those who died defending France.
“In their minds they didn’t know that it would later serve the Kremlin’s propaganda,” Mr. Malinowski said.
After months of digging, Mr. Malinowski said, he came across a Russian rifle in August. Underneath was “a pile” of Russian skeletons, with their helmets, bandoleers and military identification plates.
“A sign from God,” Mr. Orlov, the former Russian ambassador, said of the discovery.
Mr. Malinowski boarded a plane to report to Moscow and ask if he wanted to make the discovery public. “Let’s go!” he said Mr. Peskov told him. Mr. Peskov denied the Kremlin’s involvement in the project, but called it “great.”
Back in France in September, Mr. Malinowski reported his find to police, who passed the case on to France’s National Office for Veterans, an agency run by the defense ministry.
In just over a month, French authorities exhumed, identified and then buried the remains of the three soldiers in a ceremony that participants described as solemn but hastily arranged.
The invitations were sent to the Russian embassy in France less than 24 hours in advance saying he had not received one. The soldiers’ first, middle and last names were mixed on the memorial crosses, which did not bear the inscription “Died for France” like all the other graves in the cemetery.
“They wanted to do it so quickly, so secretly,” said Marie Bellegou Mamontoff, head of the “Russian Brigades 16-18,” a group that commemorates the soldiers. She said she was barred from giving a speech. “It was a bit surreal.”
The French government declined to comment on the political implications of the case, saying it was just one of many examples of World War I soldiers being exhumed and buried.
Russia’s response could hardly have been more different.
“Projects like this have a special significance,” the country’s Foreign Ministry said in written answers to questions, suggesting it could help mend ties between France and Russia.
Mr. Peskov told reporters that the funeral showed that, despite the current freeze in French-Russian relations, “there is still a glimmer of humanity.”
Mr Orlov said the discovery could be an opportunity for a resumption of talks between Mr Macron and Mr Putin, two presidents attuned to the power of history in diplomatic relations. “It costs little, but can yield a lot,” he says.
With Ukraine and Russia locked in an uphill battle that could benefit Moscow in the long run, Mr Orlov said the West should work with Russia again to find a negotiated solution to the war in Ukraine. France, he added, “is a natural ally to emerge from the current crisis.”
The quick and subdued funeral indicates that France is unlikely to take the bait.
But Russia is already laying the groundwork for future talks. Mr. Malinowski said the Kremlin had urged him to find descendants of the fallen soldiers (French authorities said they would pay for relatives to pay their respects to visit).
The French have also found more remains of Russian soldiers at the site, meaning France may have to deal with more burials. The Russian Foreign Ministry said it would not rule out repatriating the remains.
Mr Quénel said he expected Russia would take up the case of the remains and try to “lock France into an untenable position.”
Either Paris refuses to cooperate and is accused by Moscow of trampling on historical memory, Mr. Quénel said, or it agrees to cooperate with Russia and send a devastating message to Ukraine and its allies.
“Heads, I win, tails, you lose,” he said.
Juliette Gueron-Gabrielle contributed reporting from Saint-Hilaire-le-Grand, and Ivan Nechepurenko from Tbilisi, Georgia.