PARIS — Greenpeace activists on Monday swooped in to snatch French President Emmanuel Macron’s statue from the Grévin Museum — Paris’ iconic wax museum — and hauled it off to the Russian Embassy in a dramatic stunt to protest France’s ongoing business ties with Moscow.
“Greenpeace France activists borrowed the statue of Emmanuel Macron from the Grévin Museum, believing that he does not deserve to be displayed in this world-renowned cultural institution until he has terminated France’s contracts with Russia and promoted an ambitious and sustainable ecological transition at the European level,” the French branch of the environmentalist group said in a press release.
The nonprofit organization accused Macron of talking tough on Russia when it comes to ending the war in Ukraine but not doing enough to halt French imports of Russian gas and fertilizer.
“Ukraine burns, business goes on,” read a sign held up by activists next to the wax president.
Though Europe has largely cut down on business with the Kremlin since its full-scale invasion in 2022, it still imports Russian gas and other energy products. The European Commission has vowed to end Russian gas imports by 2027. France remains one of Europe’s biggest importers of Russian liquified natural gas, according to a report published by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis earlier this year.
According to French news agency AFP, which quotes law enforcement sources, the suspects — two women and one man — posed as tourists to pull off the heist.
The Paris prosecutor’s office told POLITICO that an investigation has been opened into “theft to the detriment of the museum.”
Though Greenpeace’s statement insists that the statue was “borrowed,” it is unclear when it will be handed back.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s statue, meanwhile, was unavailable, having been removed from the Parisian museum back in 2022 after the launch of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
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