Le Traitre Ou Le Pragmatique?

[PetitAnglais]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-20921208
would we all do similar in the circumstances?

[ichkeria]

Ha ha surprise surprise jno. I thought he was also renouncing his French citizenship though? A typical Russian 'exile' abroad !!
How odd that the residency/birth rule for citizenship(recently 'tightened') has been waived in this most deserving case of hardship!
Perhaps he had one of the new forms: you leave the 'Qualifications for citizenship' bit blank and just complete in no more than 140 characters 'why I don't like my old president any more' !

[sp1814]

Not much to add apart from this - looking at the photo in the article...Gerard Depardieu has the most enormous hands in Europe.

[jno]

ichkeria, as I read it he vowed to hand back his passport (so I'm not clear how he got to Sochi) but nothing about renouncing citizenship as such. But maybe it got lost in translation.

[ichkeria]

We learn that M Depardieu has been "offered to set up home" in the "republic" of Mordovia. So no doubt that's where we'll find him from now on (!)
By the way research reveals that the tax is, as one would expect, a "higher band" tax of income over 1 million euros.

[jno]

"Mordovia is best known for its Stalin-era gulag prison camps"

He'll feel right at home after the hell of being trapped in high-tax France, then.

[ichkeria]

I suppose I shouldn't laugh, but I really find this one of the funniest stories of the year (I know it's only Jan 6 !!)
He's been invited to become Mordovia's Minister of Culture. Russia really is a country where your dreams can come true ...

[jno]

in fairness to the Russians, while I am in no hurry to live there, they do have a massive artistic heritage

[ichkeria]

Indeed they do jno. I understand that Depardieu is interested in one of Mordovia's historical figues who he would like to play in a film.

[jno]

there's definitely a theatre, though I don't know if he could get his hands into it

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