В Оксфордшире планируют построить парк на £600 млн, но местные жители опасаются связей с Путиным

Moscow-on-the-Wold: new £600m theme park for kids to be built in the Cotswolds but fears grow over possible links to Putin and his deadly regime - See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred Source - See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred Source It's the £600million theme park proposal which promises to delight future generations of British children with its fairy tale castles and romantic adventure. But the prospect of a lavish new kids' adventure hub on the edge of the Cotswolds is raising concerns darker than jousting knights and imprisoned princesses. In fact, there are growing suggestions of a connection between the plans from a French leisure company and Vladimir Putin. Puy du Fou announced plans last summer for the 400-acre medieval-themed park in the Oxfordshire countryside and they say it will create hundreds of jobs for the local area. Backers include tourist organisation Visit Britain and nearby Blenheim Palace, but locals fear it will lead to increased traffic and strain on the infrastructure. But what is particularly raising eyebrows in sleepy Bucknell near Bicester, is the suggested link between Philippe de Villiers, the owner of the French company, and Putin. One worried local said: ’I’m not at all happy about this project and there is quite a lot of opposition locally. ‘It will bring chaos to the area and the infrastructure just isn’t here but what’s really troubling is the background of the man behind it all and his alleged links to Putin. ‘I’m not sure people will be happy with this plan if they knew the full story of just how close these two men seem to be – and where is the money coming from for this? Is it Russian oligarchs? We just don’t know.’ A £600million medieval theme park proposed for Oxfordshire by French firm Puy du Fou promises jobs and tourism - and is said to have an eye-raising connection to Vladimir Putin Philippe de Villiers, the owner of the French company, and Putin (pictured) allegedly met and discussed plans to build a theme park in Crimea in 2014, which had been newly annexed by Russia In 2014 de Villiers and Putin allegedly met and discussed plans to build a theme park in Crimea which had been newly annexed by Russia. Despite Moscow being under EU sanctions at the time for the invasion, de Villiers caused concern by praising Putin as having ‘grand vision and charisma’. He also accused the European Union of imposing a 'reign of terror' after it slapped sanctions on de Villiers' Russian business partner Konstantin Malofeev. Malofeev, 52, is a close Putin ally and oligarch who through his media network Tsargrad has promoted a return to Russia's imperial past and was financially backing the Russian parks plan. He has also been accused by the EU and US of financing pro-Russian separatist movements in eastern Ukraine. While Malofeev’s wife, Maria Lvova-Belova, 41, is currently the subject of an arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court for unlawful deportation of children from Ukraine to Russia. An accusation glaringly at odds with her Putin-appointed role of Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights. At the time of the meeting in Crimea, de Villiers said the EU sanctions had been imposed on Malofeev for 'declaring his love of Russia'. Putin is said to have met de Villiers, who also brought his son Nicolas, at the Livadia Palace in the Black Sea resort of Yalta. It was the venue where Russia’s wartime leader Joseph Stalin met Franklin Roosevelt and Sir Winston Churchill to discuss what would happen once Germany was defeated. The meeting took place almost 12 years ago to the day – August 14, 2014 – and an online report by the BBC describes how Putin and de Villiers lavished fawning praise on each other following their talks. De Villiers previously caused concern by praising Putin as having ‘grand vision and charisma’ during Russia's invasion of Crimea Putin tells de Villiers how he has ‘created one of the best-known and most-loved parks in France’ and is one of the ‘best in the world’. De Villiers replied by telling Putin: ’You are a great president, and your country is a truly magnificent country.’ Then to the surprise of EU diplomats, he added: ’I can tell you that not just I but many Europeans think that sanctions is the language of war, while cooperation is the language of peace.’ He went on: ’I believe that the French Russian friendship is free from flaws, no matter what the envious might say, and I can declare here before everyone present that the peoples of Europe do not share their leaders' views and do not share the views of those who dictate to them from Brussels. ‘It will be our pleasure to work together with the Russian Federation. We will bring peace. ‘Our company Puy du Fou builds parks in France and all around the world. Our parks are not the product of globalisation. ‘They respect historical roots. We respect the Russian Federation and are happy to cooperate with you. ‘The European continent's future is not in America, but is here on the European continent, including in Russia.’ In a later interview de Villiers also heaped praise on Malofeev describing him as a man of ‘great moral power’ while Putin had ‘sweet eyes and sweet words’. Ultimately the project in Russia never came to pass but de Villiers, Putin and Malofeev, who is still known to be extremely close to Moscow, have remained on good terms with the Frenchman praising Putin on TV. Proposals include a park made up of four period villages and 13 world-class live shows (six outdoor shows and seven indoor shows) The park will have considerable bunding, some up to 7m tall, that will be landscaped around the park and around each individual show, with trees planted on top to help screen views, light and noise The Oxfordshire Park, which would create 2,000 jobs, is modelled on the firm’s two parks in France (pictured) and one in Spain, with total visitors more than three million a year Malofeev’s bellicose rhetoric might also give cause for concern, once telling Russian media with regard to the war in Ukraine: ’The use of nuclear weapons? We don’t consider worst-case scenario. We consider it a good one.’ He went on: ‘Why aren’t we using the nuclear weapons that our ancestors created and stockpiled through the efforts of the entire country for precisely moments like this?’ He also once said that if ‘Russia failed to challenge the West it would become a secondary country’. The Oxfordshire Park, which would create 2,000 jobs, is modelled on the firm’s two parks in France, where the original was founded in 1978, and one in Spain with total visitors more than three million a year. The first park, founded in 1978 in Vendee in western France, prides itself on its 'multitude of spectacular shows' with falconry, sword fights and jousting. Instead of rides, it focuses on re-enactments and spectacles including Roman chariot racing and Viking battles and on its proposal website Puy du Fou said the park would include four period villages and 13 world-class live shows. There would also be three onsite hotels, each themed to different episodes of British history, and a state-of-the-art conference centre which would be open all year round while the park would be open from April to October. Cherwell Council has asked for comments on its planning application website, and many are opposed to the development. Among them is Charles Harman, a former banker who has set up two charities dedicated to helping Ukrainians. He lives next to the site of the proposed Oxfordshire theme park and highlighted the links with Putin. Mr Harman said: ’In 2014, immediately after the illegal Russian annexation of Crimea, Philippe and Nicolas de Villiers visited Crimea. ‘Philippe de Villiers met with President Putin and announced their plans to build a Poy du Fou theme park in Crimea. ‘An agreement for this was signed with the sanctioned Russian appointed leader of the Crimean government. ‘Their partner in this venture, the Russian oligarch Konstantin Malofeev, was already sanctioned at the time. ‘Mr Malofeev’s new wife is the Russian "children’s rights ombudsman", who is subject to an ICC arrest warrant relating to the unlawful deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia. ‘Philippe de Villiers continues to publicly support the Putin regime. It would be deeply offensive to the many Ukrainian citizens now living in Oxfordshire and their country’s many supporters in the county for Cherwell District Council to be engaging with or supporting Puy du Fou. ‘The reputational issues associated with the company and the de Villiers family cannot be ignored.’ The first park, founded in 1978 in Vendee in western France (pictured), prides itself on its 'multitude of spectacular shows' with falconry, sword fights and jousting While the vocal North Oxfordshire Resident Action (NORA), who are also opposed to the plan, has batted away Puy du Fou’s attempts at downplaying links with Putin’s Russia – they claim they were ‘caught off guard’. On its website NORA highlights its response in the Puy du Fou ‘lie detector’ test, a point by point dismantling of Puy du Fou’s claims, highlighting how the meeting in Crimea took place six months after the invasion and five months after sanctions were imposed. NORA adds: ‘Does this sound like someone who was caught off guard?’ It went on: ’There is cross-party parliamentary support for the UK’s opposition to Vladimir Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine and consequently for the UK’s military and financial support for Ukraine. ‘UK taxpayers continue to contribute from their pockets… it should be obvious that opposition to those who do business with Putin and his network of sympathisers is not only a duty but simply a case of fundamental human decency.’ Cherwell District Council is expected to make a decision later this year and if given the go ahead, construction will start immediately with an opening date of 2029 already pencilled in. In a lengthy statement Puy du Fou told the Daily Mail: 'We have explained multiple times, as the situation continually changed during 2014-15, we liaised with the French authorities and through them the EU, both of whom were at that point working at pace to try to achieve a Russian withdrawal from Crimea in an attempt to normalise the situation as quickly as possible thereafter. Like many international businesses at that time, including British ones, we were caught up in the middle of that. 'After the initial diplomacy when it was clear that Russia was not going to withdraw and the sanctions regime was launched, we ceased all contact with the Russian authorities and their representatives in 2014. 'We had a number of potential project options and potential partners in the Moscow region, which we quite properly and reasonably explored to see (a) if they could still be viable and if not (b) how we could extricate ourselves from them, as any well run, reasonable business would do. 'As the sanctions regime began to be implemented, in waves, we stopped working with a by then now sanctioned individual we had been introduced to as a local partner. 'When the wider international effort was clearly stalled and not improving, we quite appropriately took the decision we did not want to be involved in Russia, and thus withdrew from all our potential projects and partners there, which took a little over a year to unwind in an orderly fashion taking appropriate legal advice so that we legally protected our IP and our organisation. Since then we have had no involvement or interests in Russia.' Malofeev's wife, Maria Lvova-Belova, sarcastically told Russian media after the arrest was issued: 'It's wonderful that the international community has appreciated the work being done to help the children of our country.' She added: 'There were sanctions from every country – even Japan – in relation to me. Now there is an arrest warrant. I wonder what will happen next.' Asked directly whether she was a war criminal, she smiled and replied: 'It’s funny. I’m a mother. That says it all. A war criminal? What are you talking about?' She also insisted: 'I can say with absolute certainty that there was not an ounce of politics. 'There was only empathy, only love, there was only a desire to protect those children….. 'I am not ashamed of any of my actions, because this is all for children and for children’s sake.'