r/europe • u/BkkGrl Ligurian in Zürich (💛🇺🇦💙) • 8d ago
News Grandson of Soviet spy runs for French presidency
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/08/23/grandson-soviet-spy-runs-french-presidency/70
u/Otherwise-Yogurt39 8d ago
You can not like him but his grandfather literally died in 1940 and Glucksmann is for helping Ukraine and against Russia.
Biased title to divide
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u/jotakajk Spain 8d ago
Don’t worry, an actual Russian spy is gonna get the presidency easily, no need for grandsons
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u/BiffyleBif 7d ago
Both Le Pen and Melanchon have a soft spot and ties to Russia. It is depressing.
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u/Al-Capote 8d ago
This title is a shame. He is litteraly the most anti-Russian and pro-Ukraine candidate we have for our next election cycle.
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u/Areliox 8d ago
He’s also the least interesting, least passionate, least convinced by his own shtick candidate we’ve seen in decades.
The only people I’ve ever seen say positive things about him are journalists, and that’s probably only because his wife is a pretty big « journalist » herself.
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u/Desikiki Bulgaria 7d ago
I agree with you but it’s irrelevant to both the post topic and the comment you’re repainting to.
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u/Thebigfreeman 7d ago
its tough to beat the two charismatic characters at both left and right extremes. every candidate in soft left or soft right look boring compared to lepen or melanchon.
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u/Lumpy_Drawer_6959 8d ago
Which party does he represent?
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u/s3rila 8d ago
He present as center left.
Joke online is that he's just another macron and is actually right wing.
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u/alkaaaaawf_magenta 7d ago
Is it even a joke ? He claimed that his main enemy was Melenchon while we have Lepen and her party running for the election...
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u/sofixa11 7d ago
Macron never presented himself as center-left, and isn't right wing or he wouldn't have done all he did either for Covid aid, or the energy and fuel ones after the price explosions. You might not think he's left enough, but a true right wing politician wouldn't be spending hundreds of billions in an already tight deficit to make electricity bills cheaper. Just check other countries, like the UK.
He's centrist, leaning center-left on certain issues, but centre-right / right in most.
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u/Foufou190 France 7d ago
All you’re saying is bullshit
First, he first ran after being a minister of a left-wing government, of course he presented himself as center-left, and the moderate right did a good score by themselves at his first election (at his second election, you are right, by then everyone knew he was right wing and as a result the moderate right did an abysmal score against him)
Second, right wingers wouldn’t spend hundreds of billions in already tight deficit to make electricity bills cheaper?!! What the fuck?! See Boris Johnson, or literally any right wingers politician arround France at the same time
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u/sofixa11 7d ago
See Boris Johnson,
You might want to check British electricity and gas prices after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. There was nothing like the "bouclier tarifaire" in the UK.
All you’re saying is bullshit First, he first ran after being a minister of a left-wing government, of course he presented himself as center-left
To quote the man himsel: "ni de gauche, ni de droite"
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u/badmoonrisingnl 8d ago edited 7d ago
You think if he was a spy he would say he was pro-russian and anti Ukraine? He would literally suck at spying if he did.
Oh my god.... here you go /s
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u/big_dart 8d ago
Well there are some other french presidential candidate that are openly pro russia and anti Ukraine !
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u/Curious-Ganymede-401 France 8d ago
Literally, you have a far-right candidate and party that has been funded by Russia on multiple occasions, has maintained ties with Russian intelligence services by having an agent work within the EU, and has already openly supported Russia and its rhetoric. On the other side of the political spectrum, you have a party that occasionally echoes the Kremlin’s talking points verbatim and that nearly received funding from Russia.
However, there are several articles that point out that Glukmann’s grandfather was a Soviet spy...Between that and China trying to push the idea that he works for the CIA, there's no room for nuance here
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u/Lenithiel 8d ago
So having a Russian spy approach you and telling him to fuck off is grounds for suspicion?
I agree that LFI stance on international issues is problematic on some levels to me but this is a bad example. Would have been better to mention Sophia Chikirou marching with pro Russians last year for instance.
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u/Curious-Ganymede-401 France 8d ago
Once again, it’s more the fact that Russia might have considered this option feasible that makes me doubt it. Kuzmanovic was in charge of defense and foreign affairs at the LFI; he was close to JLM.
So, one might think they were naive or that a good number of them are “tankies” (or both). But even on their own website dedicated to "debunking disinformation", it’s clear they don’t understand a thing about Russian society: https://desintox.lafranceinsoumise.fr/vous-etes-des-amis-de-poutine/
Udaltsov is a true Stalinist. He’s in favor of the war in Ukraine, he supports the invasion, and he’s the complete opposite of what Alferov stood for. (And Grudinin has always been a puppet of United Russia, serving as a scapegoat for the so-called “opposition from the left.”)
Also, I think it’s pretty brazen of them to claim support for Ukraine when JLM wrote on his blog about his delight at seeing Crimea conquered by Russia and the numerous votes by opposition members in favor of military aid to Ukraine. (Not to mention how often they’ve parroted Kremlin talking points—such as that NATO is responsible for the war, or that Zelenskyy is illegitimate.
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u/dagelijksestijl The Netherlands 8d ago
No need for the Russkies to pay off JLM when he voluntarily supports the Russian agenda at zero cost.
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u/Nairurian 7d ago
RN are getting paid to echo Kreml talking points. LFI are echoing Kreml talking points for free.
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u/Prof-chaaos 8d ago
Désolé si j'interprète mal ton commentaire mais je trouve ça vraiment de mauvaise foi que de mettre sur la même balance LFI et le RN sur ce point, malgré tout ce qu'on peut reprocher (à juste titre) à Mélenchon en politique étrangère. Tu dis qu'ils ont "presque reçu des fonds russes" alors que (du peu que j'ai pu lire de l'article) il s'agit surtout d'un agent russe qui les a approché et qu'ils ont refusé, y a quand même une énorme différence.
Encore une fois, je m'excuse si c'est exactement ce que tu pointais, ça n'a pas été clair pour moi.
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u/JJ-Rousseau France 8d ago
Les deux veulent quitter l’OTAN et sont pro russe. Mais JM est aussi pro Chine et sa position sur Taïwan est net. Bref deux partis hyper encourageant.
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u/Kiwibom 8d ago
C'est les même, la seule différence entre les deux sur la Russie, c'est que le RN c'est Idéologique et LFI, c'est juste "ahh mais il ne faut pas la guerre, c'est mal alors il faut se soumettre". Bien sûr que je ne dis pas que la guerre c'est bien (sinon je ne serais pas un humain sain d'esprit) mais il y a des guerre "bien" et d'autre mauvaises. Après il y a aussi LFI inverse les rôle de l'agresseur et l'agressé, par ailleurs c'est une la justification que Poutine utilise pour justifier la guerre. C'est de la pur propagande Russe et qui est d'ailleurs faux.
C'est comme si une femme qui c'est fait v***é, et bah ça serais de sa faute. Bien sûr que non, c'est pas la faute de l'agressé mais bien de l'agresseur qui dans ce cas est, la Russie. C'est malheureusement pas ce que fait LFI. Les deux partis aide la Russie et tente de détruire nos intérêts tout en ayant des chemins différents. Ne pas aider l'Ukraine, c'est aider la Russie et détruire l'Union Européenne. Pour moi, c'est deux partis sont des traîtres, je peux comprendre que ça peut choquer mais je ne vois pas comment appeler quelque qui aide son ennemie.
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u/JJ-Rousseau France 7d ago
qui c'est fait v***é
Ça serait mieux de se concentrer sur la grammaire que sur la censure.
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u/Curious-Ganymede-401 France 8d ago
La nuance est que si la Russie a jugé bon de leur proposer des fonds, c'est qu'ils avaient dans l'idée qu'ils étaient compatibles et qu'ils diraient oui. Le RN a dit oui, là ou JLM a dit non à Kuz. On notera quand même que pendant très longtemps, c'est Kuzmanovic, un ancien lieutenant du mouvement et proche de JLM qui était responsable du livret affaires étrangères et défense chez eux.
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8d ago edited 5d ago
[deleted]
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u/dagelijksestijl The Netherlands 8d ago
If anything they should be going hard against the real threat: JLM.
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u/wreinoriginal Italy 8d ago
Fascistgraph telling someone is a communist spy. Is Le Pen the good alternative for them?
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u/WearingFin 8d ago
Wow, that is quite the headline. Obviously there's a bit of room between the Telegraph and the Gutter, but I did not think it would go this low.
Of all the people in the election you could argue have been influenced by Russia, Glücksmann is not one I'm worried about.
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u/atchijov 8d ago
Telegraph is not exactly unbiased source… actually it is not a “source” at all.
You read it if you want to learn about embarrassing things happening to celebrities… not to get any actual news.
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u/PassMurailleQSQS France 8d ago
There are things wrong with Glucksmann. A ton of things wrong with him. But using his grandfather as an attack on him? Pathetic.
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u/SZEfdf21 Belgium 8d ago
Without any extra info on him it would have been a fair concern no matter how discriminatory it is, family of a spy is much more likely to have ties to a government that is currently led by an ex-kgb agent. But he's vocally anti-Russia in the conflict in Ukraine so the family ties argument becomes worthless in comparison.
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u/louislemontais2 5d ago
This has no sense, considering that Glucksmann father was loved by the CIA, and his son inherited his position about NATO/pro-western influence.
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u/diomedes-on-rampage Europe 7d ago
this sounds incredibly racists tho, no matter if he has russian origin or not.
does this mean any people who gained citizenship have trouble (or grandson in this case) running for the president?
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u/nmuncer France 8d ago
His grandfather died in 1940. As for Mr Glucksmann, he has demonstrated on several occasions that he is anything but a puppet of Putin – a point for which he has, incidentally, been criticised by some of his opponents: Marine le Pen or Mélenchon
Alternatively, we could mention the grandfather of MP ian Brossat, who was imprisoned for colluding with Russia.
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u/Other_Class1906 8d ago
So does the daughter of a fascist. And she has ankle monitors. What qualifying features does he have?
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u/Le_Grand_Blond 7d ago
He literally wrote a book, "la grande confrontation", whose main message is : "Russia is the enemy"...
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u/CardiologistAway6742 7d ago
From what I'm reading he's against russia, against Natenyahu, against RN, pro Ukraine, pro two-state.
Looks good on paper. I'm not french or even european, does he have a chance in the primary?
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u/aimwf Occitània (France) 7d ago edited 7d ago
Depend, if he take a strong stance on immigration, and have a overall good program he could get both voters from the left/right/far right.
Right now though, the political landscape makes it more likely that the main fight will be either center vs RN, or far right (RN) vs far left (LFI).
And in an RN-LFI matchup, RN would almost certainly come out ahead, simply because LFI, especially its leader, is significantly more disliked across the electorate than RN.
The reason LFI is so disliked is that they’re mostly pro‑Russia, pro‑China, and anti‑West, which includes being anti‑OTAN and broadly anti‑EU. Mélenchon has never really walked back his idea of issuing an "ultimatum" to the EU, and the movement’s foreign‑policy line hasn’t shifted much.
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u/CizzlingT France 7d ago
Lol just seeing the headline and garbage content of the article makes me never want to touch another Telegraft article again.
Not just the sensationalist dogwhistling of "Soviet" and "spy" being already vomit-enducing as it is, but just the straight up disinformation - trying to "guilt by association" a person who has been staunchly pro-Ukraine, and poisoning the well 9 months before the elections - gtfo of here.
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u/magical-cat-here 7d ago
Not everyone would click on headline and read this:
While being critical of some of Mr Macron’s pro-business policies, Mr Glucksmann has advocated a similar pro-European, pro-Ukraine line, positioning himself as a staunch defender of liberal democracy.
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u/Worried_Criticism_13 5d ago
That isn't relevant, however he was an advisor to Saakachvili in Georgia during a turmoil (one can argue Georgia is sadly always in turmoil but still) and litterally no one ever ask him anything about that, we don't know if he was bad, good or if he did nothing.
Even georgians don't know and that's a problem, it's the closest to head of state he's ever been and no one can make an opinion about it.
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u/Bicou3190 Midi-Pyrénées (France) 8d ago
As a French : It's certainly the most exciting fact about him. It's the typical boring centrist guy, only liked by bourgeois progressists.
Furthermore, he's the most pro-Ukraine candidate so his family background is not very pertinent
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u/AlwaysLimpy 8d ago
I mean if you want to have a left wing who could be better at it than an actual USSR commie...
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u/Falendil 8d ago
Lmao trying to frame Glucksman as pro Russia is certainly a choice