The non-governmental organization GEOPRAGMA is an independent strategic thinking center which aims to renew and promote French strategic thought based on a realistic, non-dogmatic and ethical vision of the world and people. Its goal is defense of national interests and civilizational values of France, promotion of new French leadership in Europe and influence on the international scene. Geopragma was registered 30-11-2017 and is located 3 RUE DE CHAILLOT – 75016 PARIS.
At least this is written at the official site of the organization, and we might believe this to be true unless we make detailed analysis of the members and of the content, they are publishing.
The members.
The head of this organization is a well-known Russian propagandist Caroline Galactéros, who has anti-Americanist and anti-Atlanticist position and is inspired by Alexander Dugin, the ideologist of the “Russian world”, developer of the geopolitical theory of Eurasianism (even in Russia the official Kremlin renounced him because of his radicalism and extremism). She is very active on the media, giving interviews, taking part in discussions and round tables. Also, she’s one of the most favorite foreign “experts” Russian mass-media like to quote positioning her as the “voice of West”.
The other member is Jean-Bernard Pinatel, former general of French army and so called “expert”, writes articles about war in Ukraine, books, active on social media, gives interviews for Russian propagandist media. All his materials have only one goal – to criticize Ukraine and her military and justify Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The next one is Héléna Perroud, born in Moscow, she is of dual Russian and French culture, bilingual, she has 10 years of life experience in Russia – 7 years in Moscow and 3 years in Saint Petersburg. She has worked regularly with Russia since the end of the 1990s, at the Presidency of the Republic (1996-2005), as the head of the French Institute of Saint Petersburg (2005-2008), also as the chief of the international opening of the Academy of Versailles (2009-2015). Founder of Héléna Perroud Conseil since 2015, she carries out consulting activities between France and Russia, supporting businesses in Russia. She makes numerous trips to Russia for this purpose.
Then we have Emmanuel Goût, managing Partner at Goût Sevastianov and Partners, which is based in Moscow.
Also, Alexis Tchoudnowsky, French citizen, resident of the United Kingdom, representative of so called “white Russian nobility” (most likely he is the ancestor of Russians who escaped from the communists after revolution of 1917), whose business is related to Investments and banking, also he is the head of the Rothschild investment bank in Moscow. He is also the member of another Russian influence organization – L’association Paris-Berlin-Moscou.
The grand master of French masons Alain Juillet is business manager and former senior French civil servant, who became an activist. He was Director of Intelligence within the Directorate-General for External Security (DGSE), before being appointed Senior Official in charge of Economic Intelligence to Prime Minister François Fillon until 2009. A Freemason, he is one of the founders of the Grande Loge de l’Alliance maçonnique française of which he is the first grand master. Since the 2020s, he has been noted for his pro-Kremlin positions and his conspiratorial comments, particularly on Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Alain Juillet has YouTube channel called “OPENBOXTVfr” (self-description: Web TV dedicated to geopolitical issues, which gives the opportunity to speak to real experts specialized in the major strategic issues for France in the 21st century) with 130 000 followers and profiles in social media. Despite beautiful words this is just a propaganda channel, where he publishes different anti-american and pro-russian video materials.
Working in Russia French journalist Jean-Claude Galli is former director of Le Courrier de Russie, former correspondent of BFMTV (Moscow).
Other members of Geopragma are: Patricia Lalonde, Philippe Hénon, Gérard Chesnel, Jean-Philippe Duranthon, Jacques Myard, Pierre de Lauzun, Gérard Chaliand, Pierre Conesa, Renaud Girard, Claude Revel, Christopher Coonen.
Thus, 7 out of 18 members of the organization are either Russians by origin or have close relations with Russia and are Russian propagandists, puppets of Putin’s regime, paid for spreading Russian narratives in Europe.
Content analysis.
Let’s make content analysis of the materials they are publishing on their official site.
In the article called “How can one be a Hungarian?”, published 29 July 2024, the author Ghislain de Castelbajac tries to persuade the audience that Ukraine is violating the right of Hungarians, which is a pure lie:
“It is worth recalling that all of Hungary’s neighbors with Hungarian minorities on their territories grant them rights equivalent to those of other citizens, with the exception of Kyiv, which banned the use of the Hungarian language in the Transcarpathian region, annexed by the R.A. Ukraine, a component of the USSR, in 1945”.
We want to reject this untruthful claim, because as of 2022 there were 102 Hungarian-language schools in Ukraine with approximately 20 000 students, instead, in Hungary there is not a single Ukrainian-language school, which is the rough violation of human rights by Hungary.
Another article “War in Ukraine: towards the escalation”, where the author Philippe Condé, Doctor of Economy, specialist on Russia is claiming that.
“The risk of escalation is growing every day; especially as Western leaders continue to turn a deaf ear to Moscow’s words. However, Moscow says every day that it is ready to negotiate, considering the reality on the ground”.
Then he goes to typical Russian propaganda trick – misinformation znd manipulation of facts: “Russia has become the world’s fourth largest economy in 2023 in GDP PPP (purchasing power parity), behind China, the United States and India but ahead of Japan. The unemployment rate is below 3%, the economy is in labor shortage, which is the main problem today”.
One more article named “Putin, President of the Russian Federation for a 5th term”, published 3 May 2024, where Jean-Bernard Pinatel frightens everyone in nuclearization of war in case if West gives Ukraine permission to use their weapons for hitting objects on Russian territory:
“Much more threatening and credible for Moscow is the statement by British Foreign Secretary David Cameron, who claimed that Britain had given Ukraine permission to use British weapons to strike Russian territory, which was clearly perceived by Moscow as an intolerable escalation. Indeed, it is highly likely that significant civilian casualties deep inside Russian territory would lead Vladimir Putin to give in to his radical political wing, which for several months has wanted to accelerate the end of the conflict by nuclearizing it”.
Thus, we can see that almost every article published on the site of Geopragma is nothing more than russian propaganda containing typical Russian narratives about war in Ukraine and typical for Russia methods of influence – misinformation, frightening. Professional analysis of world politics is totally absent.
As conclusion, we can see that this organization, uniting French political persons, writers, businessmen, journalists, state servicemen and people who have influence on French foreign policy and on the development of French state and society, is the center of Russian propaganda in France.