Russia opens new cathedral complex in Paris sans Putin

The project got strong financial, political backing from Putin.

Russia inaugurates a new state-financed Orthodox cathedral complex near the Eiffel Tower in central Paris on Wednesday without the intended guest of honour, President Vladimir Putin.

Putin last week pulled out of a trip to open the complex, which includes a spiritual centre and school as well as the cathedral, after fierce criticism from France of his bombing campaign in Syria. The buildings, at a prime location by the river in central Paris, have raised eyebrows, with the five giant golden domes of the cathedral clearly visible in the historic heart of the City of Lights.

The project also reportedly sparked concerns from France’s intelligence agencies because of its proximity to nearby government buildings, including the foreign ministry just a short walk along the Seine.

Putin has given strong financial and political backing to the project, which has cost more than 100 million euros. Moscow purchased the land in 2010 from the French state under the presidency of Nicolas Sarkozy.

“You could link this project to pastoral needs, but it also likely a desire by Russia to open a cultural and religious showpiece in Paris beyond its embassy,” writer and Orthodox priest Christophe Levalois told AFP. Putin has developed close bonds with the powerful Russian Orthodox church whose patriarch Kirill has backed the Kremlin leader personally and on policies such as his military intervention in Syria.

Kirill is set to visit Paris on December 4 for the consecration of the Saint-Trinite cathedral, whose interior will be fully completed in 2017. In Putin’s absence, the complex will be opened on Wednesday by culture minister Vladimir Medinsky.

But the growing Orthodox community in France, swelled by immigration from Russia as well as the Middle East and the Balkans, is not united behind the Kremlin’s construction.

Paris already has an Orthodox cathedral, the Saint Alexandre Nevsky built by the Russian community in 1861, but it is aligned with a different branch of Orthodoxy based in Istanbul — rather than Moscow, which is seen as more politicised.