Emmanuel Leroy
Emmanuel Leroy's early biography has been aptly summarized by Nicolas Lebourg in The French Far-Right In Russia's Orbit:1
Marine Le Pen’s first geopolitical advisor, and the one who inspired her Russophilia, was Emmanuel Leroy. Leroy began his militant career in the ON and pursued it in the Study & Research Group for European Civilization (Groupement de recherche et d'études pour la civilisation européenne -GRECE), the flagship movement of Alain de Benoist’s Nouvelle Droite (New Right). In 1985, he distanced himself from the GRECE (although he still organized its Summer University in 1986, at a time when the GRECE had an interim management team and was hesitating between metapolitics, militant commitment, and retreat into a spirituality akin to freemasonry) and subscribed to the France-USSR friendship association. He moved from the idea that communism and liberalism were simply two sides of the same coin to the view that new political connections might provide a geopolitical and political counterweight to a Western materialist civilization. Jean-Pierre Stirbois made Leroy a paid official of the FN. After he was taken into custody for suspected involvement in the murder of an Algerian national, Bruno Gollnisch, FN regional head, announced to the press that Leroy was resigning from the party. Leroy responded by affirming that the affair was simply a ploy to destabilize the FN. He was later involved in the bookshop and publishing house Ogmios (from the name of a Gallic god), which re-published, inter alia, the works of the collaborationist writer Saint-Loup and was considered close to Iran and Libya by the French intelligence services.
In 2007, Leroy took part in a “White Forum” organized in Moscow by Pavel Tulaev, a member of the New Right, with Guillaume Faye (formerly of the GRECE, and Leroy’s “sponsor” there) and attended by the Spaniard Enrique Ravello, formerly of CEDADE. However, Leroy distanced himself from the outspoken rhetoric of David Duke (formerly of the Ku Klux Klan).
Always maintaining a very low profile, he appeared as Marine Le Pen’s writer during her conquest of the party and her first presidential campaign—for instance, he co-authored her victory speech when she became NF president. Between 2010 and 2012, Leroy, now presenting himself as a Eurasian militant, advised her on geopolitical and economic issues, in terms of both ideology and agit-prop strategy (in particular advising her to target “the oligarch superclass”). In 2009, Le Pen,who was making her first presidential bid and needed a geopolitical credo, borrowed heavily from one of Leroy’s published texts. She said: “To rely on Russia today is to create the true European space from the Atlantic to the Urals, a Europe comprising nations pursuing their national interests and linked within a shared civilization, very different from the American ultra-liberal communitarian model toward which the European Union is driving us.”
Between 2010 and 2017, Leroy also worked on the France/Europe/Russian Alliance (Alliance France-Europe-Russie -AFER). Headed by Fabrice Sorlin, an FN candidate in the 2007 parliamentary elections, then-president of the fundamentalist group Dies Irae, and current director of the Moscow-based enterprise TSAR, the Alliance was based on the France/Russia Association that Sorlin had founded in 2009. David Mascré was also involved with the AFER and from there briefly became an FN officer before being excluded for illegally recording some party’s internal discussions in 2012. In 2013, a delegation from the AFER that included Front National sympathizers Bruno Gollnisch and Aymeric Chauprade as well as various National Catholics was received in Moscow at an international forum on traditional values. The AFER has had contact with the Russian establishment in France—the honorary consul in Biarritz attended one of its meetings—but most importantly, it has helped to influence the geopolitical line taken by French far-right groups.
Révue Methode
Leroy is an active contributor to the French Revue Méthode - Revue des Instituts franco-russes, which allegedly has its seat in the Donetsk Republic.2 3
Jean-Yves Camus in “French Political Parties and Russia: The Politics of Power and Influence” states about Revue Méthode:4
Another pro-Donbas initiative supported by high-profile figures close to the “non-mainstream right” has been the publication of the substantial and luxurious magazine Méthode. The first issue was published in May-June 2017 under the joint patronage of the Franco-Russian institute of Donetsk and the French department of the Donetsk National Technical University. This publication saw collaboration between Xavier Moreau, former deputy to Christian Venneste; political scientist Guillaume Bernard; blogger Alexandre Latsa, who feels that “Putinism may become Gaullism” and that the future of Russian soft power is “that Russian elites will succeed in reconciling a party with a Tsarist and Communist heritage with today’s new Russia”; the journalist Françoise Compoint; and former officer Erwan Castel, a key figure in the French volunteers’ engagement in Donbas. The magazine is, along with the French version of the official media outlet Novorossiya Today (http://nrt24.ru/fr), the primary method for disseminating pro-Donbas information in French-speaking circles.
Revue Méthode apparently started out in April 2015, first under the name "Sans Frontières - Journal du Départment Francais des Sciences et Techniques (de l’ Université Nationale Tequnique de Donetsk)." In September 2015, the subtitle changed to "Sans Frontières - Journal de l’Institut Franco-Russe de Donetsk et du Départment Francais des Sciences et Techniques (de l’ Université Nationale Technique de Donetsk)." In September 2017, Sans Frontières first changed its subtitle to "Revue de l’institut franco-russe de Donetsk," and a month later changed its name to "Méthode - Revue de l’Institut Franco-Russe de Donetsk."
In the beginning the journal was merely a few pages long, and resembled more a newsletter than a journal. The editor was from the beginning Hélène Sydorova,5 while no chief editor was specified initially. Sydorova holds a doctor in technical sciences, and is also director of the “Franco-Russian Institute of Donetsk” (Institut Franco-Russe de Donetsk, IFRD) which apparently includes a “Lev Tolstoy Cultural Centre,” a Center for Graduate Studies “Charles de Gaulle Center “ and the “Alexander III Center for International Relations.”6
The leaders of IFD overlap with the leaders of the Revue Methode:7
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IFRD |
Revue Méthode |
|
Director: Elena SYDOROVA |
Editor-in-chief: Elena SYDOROVA |
|
Deputy Director (Francophonie): François MAURICE |
Editorial Director: François MAURICE |
|
Deputy Director (Russophonie): Guennady KLIAGUINE |
Secretary General: Guennady KLIAGUINE |
That Revue Méthode has a monarchist outlook can be deducted from the many biographies of aristocrats. Grand Duke Georges Mikhailovitch of Russia,8
Prince Vladimir Karageorgevitch,9
or other members of Russian nobility are often on the front page.
At the same time Revue Méthode seems also a catch basin for Duginites. The name "Douguine" appears first in the November 2016 issue in an article by Emmanuel Leroy, who seems one of the most active contributors to the journal.
While the cast of regular writers already comprises over 60 people, going through each journal one can find even more contributors. While, for example, Franco-Russian far-right liaison Pierre Malinowski is not appearing on the staff list, he has contributed articles to seven editions of the journal.
|
Editorial Director: François MAURICE
Editor in Chief: Elena SYDOROVA
Secretary General: Gennady KLIAGUINE
Contributors: Franck ABED Bruno ADRIE Alexandre ARTAMONOV Daniela ASARO-ROMANOFF Karine BECHET-GOLOVKO Guillaume BERNARD Nicolas BONNAL Gaétan BOUCHARD Gérard BRAZON David BRET Bertrand BRISSET Valérie BUGAULT Stanislav BYSHOK Jean-François CARACCI Julia CASADO José CASTANO Erwan CASTEL Antoine CHARPENTIER Françoise COMPOINT Éric CUSAS Charles DEMASSIEUX Aliona DENISSOVA Slobodan DESPOT Marc DUGOIS |
Grégory DUFOUR Antoine DUVIVIER Jean-Louis ÉTIENNE Sylvain FERREIRA Anna GICHKINA Vincent GOJON Jean GOYCHMAN Bruno GUIGUE Laurence GUILLON Yannick JAFFRÉ Pascal K. MAS Alexandre LATSA Pierre de LAUBIER Emmanuel LEROY Anatoly LIVRY Olivier MILZA Nikola MIRKOVIC Michel MOGNIAT Xavier MOREAU Frédéric de NATAL Roland PIETRINI Marie-Simone POUBLON Jean RÉMY Nicolas SAVY Jocelyne SIGNOUREL CAMBILLAU Sébastien TEISSIER Vladimir TCHERNINE Pascal TRAN-HUU Jean-Marc TRUCHET Christian VANNESTE Athanase VANTCHEV DE THRACY Jean-Michel VERNOCHET Alexandre WATTIN Alexander ZAKATOV |
Timeline
2017
In 2017, Leroy appeared on a far-right conference, together with Manuel Ochsenreiter and Kris Roman.
In December 2017, Leroy appeared as a speaker at a presentation of Hervé Juvin's book "The Western Wall has not fallen" in Chisinau, Moldavia, with the President of the Moldavian Republic Igor Dodon and Alexander Dugin present. The description of a video of the conference says:10
On the sidelines of the 2nd Eurasian colloquium in Chisinau, the Romanian-Moldovan translation of Hervé Juvin's book "The Western Wall has not fallen" was presented to the Moldovan public on 14 December 2017, with the exceptional presence of His Excellency Igor Dodon, President of the Republic of Moldova. Also speaking at the presentation were Iurie Rosca (editor of the book), Alexandre Dugin, and French intellectuals Lucien Cerise, Valérie Bugault and Emmanuel Leroy.
2018
In March 2018, Leroy appeared on a conference, organized by Alexander Dugin, entitled "The alternatives to globalism: the strategies of the multipolar world."11 The participants included Vávra Suk, Julien Rochedy, Leonid Savin, Caleb Maupin, Emmanuel Leroy, and Daria Dugina.
Presumably in May 2018, Leroy participated in the far-right Colloque International de Chisinau, headlined "From the Atlantic to the Atlantic," hosted by “Le Mouvement Eurasiste, l’Université Populaire de Moldavie et le Comité Jean Parvulesco," whose star guest was Alexander Dugin.12 Kris Roman posted a photo of the event on Facebook, which shows him behind Alexander Dugin among a group of congress participants. Left to Dugin is the Moldovan far-right journalist Iurie Rosca,13 to his right Emmanuel Leroy. Iurie Rosca, who calls himself a “conservative, Orthodox, traditionalist," and runs i.a. the websites altermedia.md and flux.md, at the time facing a 7-year charge for "influence peddling."
Picture from the 2018 Colloque International de Chisinau, including Alexander Dugin, Kris Roman, Emmanuel Leroy and Iurie Rosca.
In June 2018, Emmanuel Leroy appealed to the Moldovan government to pardon the far-right journalist Iurie Rosca, facing a seven-year prison sentence because of "influence peddling," with an open letter to the country's president Igor Dodon.14
2019
In April 2019, Leroy appeared on RT France as a "specialist" in a broadcasting entitled "London unable to assess civilian casualties from its strikes in Syria and Iraq."15
Links
- 1Nicolas Lebourg, "The French Far Right in Russia’s Orbit," Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs, 2018, 5-6, https://www.carnegiecouncil.org/publications/articles_papers_reports/the-french-far-right-in-russias-orbit/_res/id=Attachments/index=1/Lebourg-EN%20revised%203.pdf.
- 2“Notre Équipe,” Revue Méthode, http://www.revuemethode.org/equipe.html.
- 3The address on the Revue Méthode website is specified as: 58, rue Artiom, 83001 Donetsk, République Populaire de Donetsk.
- 4Jean-Yves Camus, French Political Parties and Russia: The Politics of Power and Influence, Carnegie Council, 9.
- 5Twitter profile of Hélène Sydorova, https://twitter.com/HeleneSydorova.
- 6Institut Franco-Russe de Donetsk, http://www.ifrd.institute/.
- 7“Qui sommes-nous ?,” Institut Franco-Russe de Donetsk, http://www.ifrd.institute/nous.html; “Notre Équipe,” Revue Méthode, http://www.revuemethode.org/equipe.html.
- 8Revue Méthode, April 2018, http://revuemethode.org/pdf/m0418.pdf.
- 9Revue Méthode, May-June 2018, http://revuemethode.org/pdf/m0518.pdf.
- 10"Conférence de presse: présentation du livre de H. Juvin (French/Romanian)," Geopolitica Ru on YouTube, January 6, 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1R7W0gmK3B8.
- 11"Conference "The alternatives to globalism: the strategies of the multipolar world". Part 2," Geopolitica Ru on YouTube, April 29, 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qEIQdW8qYM.
- 12Facebook post by Kris Roman, May 27, 2018, https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10216552213214839.
- 13Facebook page of Iurie Rosca, https://www.facebook.com/iurie.rosca.1.
- 14https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=651341651870989&set=pb.100009854790726.-2207520000.1529627056.&type=3&theater (Private Facebook photo)
- 15"Londres, incapable d’évaluer les victimes civiles de ses frappes en Syrie et en Irak," RT France on YouTube, April 3, 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7facu4CHJzw.
