In the summer of 2014, I visited Moscow at the invitation of Konstantin Malofeev. I was received at the lavish headquarters of his company, Marshall Capital Partners, where I presented him with a copy of my book in Russian. The oligarch said he had heard many wonderful things about me. Several other people were present during the discussion; they came and went discreetly, studying me closely. I felt as if I were at the US State Department, where I had been several times. I had the impression that I was being studied like an insect under a magnifying glass; every gesture, every inflection of my voice was subject to meticulous observation. I, however, was perfectly relaxed, because I had nothing to ask for and nothing to hide. I was interested only in exchanging ideas and collaborating with the academic and cultural communities of various countries that shared the same traditional and anti-establishment values. The discussion was elegant and pleasant, but ultimately completely fruitless and without any result.
February 28 — March 1, 2015. The Jean Parvulesco Colloquium in Bucharest. This was the first gathering dedicated to the French-speaking Romanian mystical philosopher, who is virtually unknown in Romania. The person who informed me about this event was the Italian Claudio Mutti, who had regularly published my articles and translations on a multilingual website he administered. I also knew him thanks to a series of books published in Romanian dedicated to emblematic figures of the Romanian right during the interwar period. At that event, I met Natalia Melentyieva, Professor Dugin's wife, who holds a Ph.D. in philosophy; Constantin Parvulesco, a writer and journalist known throughout Europe and the son of the mystical thinker being commemorated at the event; his own son, Stanislas Parvulesco; and Laurent James, a researcher in physics and a great connoisseur of Parvulesco's work. I transcribed all the speeches delivered in French at the event and published them in full on the website www.flux.md, which was blocked by order of the director of Moldova's Information and Security Service in 2022. At Natalia Melentyieva's request, I translated all the speeches from French, as she only knew English.
March 22, 2015. In St. Petersburg, at the luxury hotel Holiday Inn Moskovskie Vorota, an international conference took place behind closed doors, with no press and no cell phones allowed. The event was organized to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Holy Alliance of 1815, initiated by Tsar Nicholas I, which brought together Russia, Prussia, and Austria. I was among the several dozen guests, intellectuals from various countries. The expenses were covered by the oligarch Konstantin Malofeev, who moderated the event alongside Aleksandr Dugin. The speeches focused on traditional values, the idea of a shared Christian civilization, and the rejection of American hegemony and US interference in European affairs, particularly those of Ukraine.
During that event, I met Professor Dugin's daughter, Daria, with whom I formed a sincere friendship. I also had the honor of sitting at the same table during the official dinner with the renowned Professor Valentin Katasonov, a Ph.D. in economics and an Orthodox thinker, author of dozens of books, and with Oleg Platonov, a researcher of Russian and Western civilizations and a specialist in the ideology of Judaism and Freemasonry with a Ph.D. in economics, and author of an impressive number of books.
Of all the speeches, the one that stood out most to me was the brief address by French attorney Elie Hatem, who holds a doctorate in international public law and constitutional law, is a member of the Executive Committee of Action Française, was one of the leading figures of the National Front in its former incarnation, and is a close associate of Jean-Marie Le Pen. The part that left meeting moderators Malofeev and Dugin speechless was the following:
― Dear friends, everything that is being said here is absolutely true. But to be effective, we must know who our enemy is, as Sun Tzu said in The Art of War. And our enemy is the Jewish mafia. To understand this, it is enough to read three books: The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, The International Jew: The World's Foremost Problem, by Henry Ford, and The Controversy of Zion, by Douglas Reed.
Konstantin Malofeev, visibly disturbed by Elie Hatem's statement, insisted on steering the discussion back onto a more moderate and vague track:
― Dear friends, I would suggest that we avoid such phrasing. It would be preferable to use generic terms such as “enemies” or “adversaries”. That would be much wiser and more appropriate for us.
During the break, I approached Elie Hatem, shook his hand, and told him that I fully shared his approach. We've been friends ever since.
Also during that meeting, I met the Georgian businessman Levan Vasadze, a man of truly remarkable erudition, a father of eight children, and a great Georgian patriot. He was also one of the leaders of the World Congress of Families. He was close to Malofeev and Dugin and had numerous business interests in Russia. For several years, I believed I had gained another true friend. But he, too, was forced to cut off all contact with me, as will become clear below.
April 2016. I traveled to Moscow as a journalist. I recorded a series of TV segments for my show “MegaFon” with the help of the team at Tsargrad. Dugin was the editor-in-chief and gave instructions for the station's technical team to assist me. Over the course of a few days, I managed to record interviews with the following prominent figures in Russian public life: economists Valentin Katasonov, Mikhail Khazin, and Mikhail Delyagin, journalist Maxim Shevchenko, representative of the World Congress of Families and expert on homeschooling Alexey Komov; sociologist Aleksandr Bovdunov, and, of course, Aleksandr Dugin. The programs were broadcast on NTV Moldova.
May 16 — 17, 2016. Tbilisi. The 10th World Congress of Families. This was a grand event, attended by thousands of delegates from various countries, held with the support of the Georgian Orthodox Church. The main organizer was conservative businessman Levan Vasadze. It served as a vigorous international platform for traditionalist forces opposing the sodomization of society, cultural Marxism, and the perversion of public morality. During that event I met the French traditionalist activist Fabrice Sorlin, whom I had previously met at the 2015 gathering in St. Petersburg. I appreciated his speech, and since then we have a close and warm friendship. He had settled in Moscow with his family, having left France due to persecution by the country's anti-national authorities. For several years we corresponded extensively; I would send him my articles in French, which he published on a website funded by oligarch Konstantin Malofeev. On September 16 — 17, he attended the 12th World Congress of Families, held in Chișinău under the auspices of then-President Igor Dodon. I had refused to participate in organizing that event, but Fabrice visited me at home, and we had a truly brotherly conversation. Then, a few years later, we met in Moscow, where I had gone with my wife at the invitation of a college classmate. However, at some point, he, too, cut off all contact with me.
Fabrice is the father of ten children; I met his parents in Paris as well. They are admirable people, traditionalist Catholics. I don't judge him for having to go along with the praise of Putin's regime. Maybe he has no choice, but maybe he genuinely believes in the myth of Putin as a savior of traditional values and a bulwark against satanic globalism. All that remains for me is to regret that I have lost a friend whom I cared for with all my heart. I feel a sense of embarrassment when I see him alongside other French expatriates in Moscow spreading propaganda for a regime that is eminently anti-national and entirely subservient to the occult forces of global governance.
June 7, 2016. Moscow. Russia Today has organized an international forum for alternative media. That morning, I met Alain Soral, a French sociologist, writer, and journalist. By then, I had already read several of his books and had been following his video appearances online for quite some time. I boarded the bus that was gathering all the participants from their various hotels, and I saw Alain Soral in the back seat, flanked on both sides by a young man and a young woman who were assisting him and translating from Russian. I told him who I was and mentioned that I knew he had written the preface to Dugin's book The Fourth Political Theory. I also told him that I had translated that same book into Romanian and written the preface. And so we conversed throughout the entire day. We exchanged contact information and agreed that I would visit him in Paris. He invited me to the launch of his book Understanding the Empire, translated into Russian, which was to take place in three days at the Dostoevsky Library. However, I was unable to accept the invitation because I had a return ticket to Chișinău for the next day.
(to be continued)
