The mayor's office of the French city of Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois refused to accept from Russia the money needed to maintain the Russian part of the local cemetery. About 15 thousand Russian emigrants are buried here, including prominent writers and statesmen, military men and artists.
“This year, the city has not accepted money from the Kremlin to finance the renewal of the lease on land that has expired,” reports Le Monde.
The publication of the newspaper says that after February 24, the Russian part of the cemetery – 62% of the total area – "looks like a forest" due to the fact that no one cares for the burials. On some graves there are signs with a message about the expiration of the lease of the land.
In 2016, the cemetery was included in the list of Russian historical and memorial monuments abroad. Its maintenance is financed by the Russian government, and a Russian committee of trustees operates at the cemetery.
On Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois, in particular, the Nobel Prize winner in literature Ivan Bunin is buried with his wife. In the cemetery you can also find the grave of Zinaida Gippius, Dmitry Merezhkovsky, poetess Nadezhda Teffi, Ivan Shmelev, Pyotr Struve, artist Zinaida Serebryakova, writer Gaito Gazdanov, Alexander Galich, Alexei Remizov and painter Konstantin Korovin, ballet dancer and choreographer Rudolf Nureyev.