The Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo, acting similarly to Russian politicians who earlier helped separatist radicals in Crimea with Russia’s subsequent annexation of the peninsula, is now promoting the interests of pro-Russian Armenian separatists in Azerbaijani Karabakh. That is, while the Kremlin, under the guise of some separatists, is waging a full-scale war in Ukraine, some French politicians openly support pro-Kremlin puppets in another region – the South Caucasus.
More radical than Moscow and Yerevan
Since 2020, the mayor of the French capital, Anne Hidalgo, has been actively involved in foreign policy, primarily in the South Caucasus. This became particularly noticeable in August 2023: the mayor of Paris allocated funds to support the Armenian separatist enclave in Azerbaijani Karabakh, making frequent visits to this region and Yerevan, and meeting regularly with the leadership of the Kremlin-backed separatists.
Moreover, Hidalgo sent letters to the French Foreign Minister, calling to recognize the “Republic of Artsakh” (this is how Karabakh is called by the separatists of the enclave), in other words, to create another Armenian state in Azerbaijani Karabakh. Even Armenia itself, together with Russia, which supports the separatists in the Karabakh enclave, do not take such radical steps.
The Ukrainian press draws attention to the fact, that “Putin uses the Armenian separatist puppets in Karabakh for his own purposes, the very same way he used Ossetians and Abkhazians in Georgia and the supporters of the” Russian world” in Crimea and Donbass”, which “allows Moscow to maintain military presence in the South Caucasus, as well as in Georgia’s breakaway region of South Ossetia and in the Russian-controlled eastern regions of Moldova.”
However, despite the obvious and publicly available facts, demonstrating that Putin’s regime is using the separatist territory in Azerbaijan as an anchor for its policy in the Caucasus, the mayor of Paris would not let up. She has called on the French authorities to construct an airport in Karabakh currently under control of the Kremlin puppets, and has demanded President Emmanuel Macron to submit to the UN Security Council a resolution on international military intervention in Karabakh.
Following the example of the Russian mayor
Anne Hidalgo’s flurry of activity in the Karabakh region, located more than 4,500 km away from Paris – the area of her direct responsibility, resembles a similar activity of another politician.
The ex-mayor of the Russian capital Moscow, Yuri Luzhkov, showed his support for the separatists in Crimea, especially shortly before the annexation of the peninsula by Russia. During 2002-2014, the Mayor of the Russian capital acted the same as his French counterpart: he regularly visited Crimea, met with local radicals who advocated the secession of the peninsula from Ukraine, provided them with financial assistance and made statements supporting separatism.
Luzhkov’s actions played an important role when the Kremlin seized the Ukrainian peninsula in February-March 2014. Oddly, Anne Hidalgo’s actions, bearing all the signs of the preparation for an aggression, are perceived by many in the West as a “struggle for self-determination” of a separatist enclave.
In an attempt to trace the context of such unambiguous historical parallels, one can come to the conclusion that Hidalgo is strictly following Luzhkov’s “manual”.
In March 2002, Yuri Luzhkov said: “Crimea is a special region of Russia!”.
In June 2022, Anne Hidalgo after meeting with the “president” of the separatist enclave Arayik Harutyunyan said: “Paris calls on the French government demanding to recognize the independence of the Republic of Artsakh.”
In February 2007, during his visit to Crimea, Luzhkov stated, that “We will not give up on Sevastopol!”. In April 2022, Hidalgo, in an address to Armenian supporters of the separatists in Karabakh, claimed that “your battle is ours!”.
In June 2008, the mayor of Moscow explained that “Russia will decide on the matter of Sevastopol’s state affiliation in favor of its state legislation“. In December 2022, the mayor of Paris, after another meeting with Harutyunyan assured that “Paris will always be alongside Artsakh and its people, protecting their right for self-determination…”
In July 2010, Luzhkov insisted that “we [Russia] must not abandon either Sevastopol or Crimea under any circumstances.” In January 2023, after the Ukrainian peninsula has been occupied by Russia, and almost one year after the launch of the Kremlin’s full-scale aggression against Ukraine, Hidalgo insisted that “Artsakh must be recognized.”
Hidalgo’s insistent demands to “recognize Artsakh” appear all the more surprising since even Armenia itself does not recognize its independence. In addition, at the end of December 2022, the mayor of Paris, neglecting the sovereignty of Azerbaijan recognized by all UN states, called on France to rebuild the airport in the center of the separatist enclave in Karabakh.
Hidalgo’s Paris “heritage”
While Hidalgo has shown an active interest to the separatist enclave in Karabakh far from away Paris, French media and think tanks have been commenting on her questionable performance as mayor.
According to the French newspaper 20 Minutes, “Anne Hidalgo’s performance is obviously very poor, just looking at the disastrous state of the Parisian finances and the deteriorating quality of life with ever-increasing pollution rates.”
The local magazine Valeurs actuelles has added, that “Anne Hidalgo is the mayor who will destroy Paris.”
According to the authors of this publication, “the office of the Paris mayor, which, month after month, has transformed itself into a huge communication agency to better hide its appalling inaction, no longer succeeds in hiding the incompetence of its leader who will undoubtedly remain in the history of the capital as the one who will have precipitated one of the most beautiful cities in the world”.
“Anne Hidalgo’s story as mayor of Paris is one of wasting public money and disrespecting taxpayers,” the “brain trust” Institut de Recherches Economiques et Fiscales website reported in 2021.
According to Le Figaro, one of the most popular media outlets in France, “(environmental) pollution, dirt, high prices, insecurity, crack, traffic jams, ghetto blocks and the general disfigurement of public space have become a real obstacle to life … However, it doesn’t bother the mayor of Paris.“
In March 2023, the same Le Figaro mentioned, that “after five years of silence… the mayor of Paris has unveiled the amount of some of her acquisitions, financed by the money she received as her representation expenses. In 2017, nearly half of the money paid to her by the City of Paris, was spent on the purchases of clothes of major brands…”
Another example of Anne Hidalgo’s “administrative talents” is the Twitter’s hashtag #SaccageParis, the slogan of the movement aimed at condemning the degradation of heritage, culture and society that Paris undergoing under the leadership of the current Paris mayor.
Igor CHALENKO, Ukrainian political analyst, head of the Center for Analysis and Strategies (Kyiv)
