In this clip from episode 312, Arthur Khachikyan discusses his recent interview with Jean-Christophe Buisson, deputy editor of Le Figaro, a highly influential French newspaper with close ties to Macron and other French leaders. Arthur, the interviewer, highlights the deputy editor’s strong support for the Armenian people but underscores France’s unwillingness to intervene militarily in conflicts involving Armenia due to domestic and geopolitical constraints.
Listen to the segment and/or read the transcript below.
Hovik: Arthur, in the context of the West versus Russia impasse, French-Armenian relations were in the news last week. We talked at length about it. But given that we have Arthur, Arthur, you recently interviewed the deputy editor of Le Figaro, a French newspaper, who is very influential and has the company and has the ear of Macron and other French leadership. It was a very interesting interview. We’ll link to it from our podcast.
But I wanted to just sort of ask you what your impressions are. What is the takeaway from that interview? What did you hear the deputy editor of Le Figaro said that our listeners should hear?
Arthur: In short, he is one of the greatest friends of our people in France. He loves us. He is much more patriotic than most of the Armenian population. So he said, we love you guys. You know, I’m your friend. I was talking to Macron about helping you, doing anything we can.
But the French people are not going to die for Armenia. We cannot justify it to our society. We cannot explain to them why French guys are going to go and die for Armenia, nor can we risk a war with Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Russia. That’s not going to happen.
And then I questioned him on this delivery of these ridiculous armed personnel carriers made of glass. And he agreed with me that these are transport vehicles that France no longer uses. Ukraine turned them down, and they’re mostly exported to African countries and used for reconnaissance missions. So it’s a complete PR campaign. We all love France. Nobody loves France more than I do. But they’re turning this into another PR campaign-fairy tale, again in order to manipulate public opinion.
NOTE: The above is a preliminary transcript and may contain errors.