Russia has donated the huge Christmas tree outside Notre Dame cathedral in Paris this year, highlighting the role of religious contacts in its diplomacy. The surprise gift came after the cathedral appealed to foreign embassies for the first time to fund the holiday spectacle.
Notre Dame rector Mgr Patrick Jacquin said tree prices had doubled this year to 80,000 euros, too much for the cathedral’s funds and donations from local traders to cover. Mgr Jacquin discounted political motives for the gift. Russian-French ties are strained due to economic sanctions over Ukraine and Paris has delayed delivery of two helicopter carrier ships Moscow ordered four years ago.
“There’s always a risk of being used,” he told Le Monde. “Even the greatest martyrs were used.”
Russian officials made no secret of the diplomatic context. "We wanted to show by this gesture that, despite efforts to isolate Russia, the friendship between our two counties is so strong and deep that no political game can destroy it,” Russian Ambassador Alexander Orlov said at the unveiling last Saturday.
Igor Tkach, an envoy of the Moscow city government that donated the 25-metre high tree, called it “a marvellous symbol of the unity, brotherhood and mutual understanding between Christian peoples.” He said the Russian Orthodox Church also approved of the gift.
Russian media gave wide coverage to the tree’s unveiling, which was almost ignored in France, and presented it as a symbol of France’s economic woes.
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