French authorities earlier this week opened an investigation after the rector of the St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Cathedral in Nice received death threats in relation to the rapidly escalating ethnic tensions precipitated by Russian President Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
The investigation into the matter, which comes as the Continent grapples with a worrying uptick in ethnic hatred directed at ordinary Russians, was launched after the rector, Archpriest Andrey Eliseev, received a letter last week in which the sender allegedly threatened to murder him and his parishioners if they fail to leave France in a month’s time, the Paris-based newspaper Le Figaro reports.
“You are friends of Mr. Putin, If you do not return to Russia soon, you and your friends will be murdered. You have one month,” the letter reads, according to several reports by prominent French media outlets.
Immediately, upon reading the frightening contents of the letter, the archpriest filed a complaint with the prosecutor’s office in Nice, who subsequently referred the case to the Central Directorate of Public Security. In light of death threats—which are being treated with the utmost seriousness—and amid growing ethnic hostility towards Russians across the content, the Alpes-Maritime prefecture, for security reasons, has chosen to indefinitely postpone a pro-Ukrainian demonstration that was set to take place this Sunday in front of the Orthodox cathedral.
Me Germani, the lawyer of Archpriest Eliseev, who mentioned other St. Nicholas parishioners had been received similar death threats in the past, also made it clear that the cathedral welcomes not only Russians or French faithful, but also Serbs, Bulgarians, Moldovans, Romanians, Georgians, Belarusians, and of course, Ukrainians.
Community representatives of the approximately 100,000 Russian expatriates settled in France’s Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region have explained to the French news outlet 20 Minutes that—following the onset of Putin’s invasion at the end of last month—cases of Russophobia and ethnic discrimination have risen.
The death threats leveled against the archpriest and his parishioners come amid a serious groundswell of anti-Russian hostility across the continent. Days ago the Russian House of Science and Culture, situated in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, was targetted by improvised incendiary firebombs, BFMTV reported. Although no injuries were reported as a result of the attack, the building’s gate did suffer slight damage.
As The European Conservative has previously reported, the prejudicial phenomenon is especially severe in Germany, with the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) registering more than 300 criminal incidents aimed against Russian speakers. The anti-Russian hysteria has climbed to such a level, that private health clinics and restaurants have refused to service Russian passport holders.
Germany’s Anti-Racism Commissioner Reem Alabali-Radovan recently expressed deep concern over the escalating situation, noting that “some people no longer dare to speak Russian on the street.”
