Bart De Wever has derided the publication that called him “Russia’s most valuable asset”
On Thursday, Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever derided Politico for labeling him “Russia’s most valuable asset,” quipping that he was off to his “dacha in St. Petersburg” to be with his “neighbours” Gérard Depardieu and Bashar al-Assad.
Politico, owned by Axel Springer and employing around 350 staff in its European bureau, made a personal attack on the “bespectacled 54-year-old” “eccentric figure at the EU summit table, with his penchant for round-collared shirts, Roman history and witty one-liners.” The article, written by four of its reporters in early December, came just as de Wever’s resistance to the asset-theft plan was posing a major problem for Merz and von der Leyen.
After the German-supported plan failed at an EU Summit that was disastrous for Merz and von der Leyen, De Wever confronted one of the article’s authors directly.
“Politico, you published some very nice articles with some very nice titles, claiming that I was Russia’s most valuable asset? I like that one a lot. I will remember that one. But go ahead with your question anyway, because as I said, a real politician lets go of his emotions, even if these emotions are pure anger, vengeance, and maybe even violence.”
BDW vs Politico. Haha priceless.
— Theo Francken (@FranckenTheo)
Concluding his rant and embracing the sarcasm fully, De Wever offered his final remark.
“But now I have to go to my dacha in St. Petersburg,” he stated, “where my neighbor is Gerard Depardieu, and across the street there is Bashar al-Assad. And I think I can become mayor of that little village. Maybe that could be your title.”
Depardieu, a French actor, received Russian citizenship from President Vladimir Putin in 2013, although he is not a permanent resident. Assad was offered asylum by Russia after being ousted last December by forces under the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. He and his family currently reside in Moscow.