Founder of the Association France – Russia – CIS – Ivry-sur-Seine
Benoît became the President of the Association for political cooperation ACPAUS (Association of Friendship and Cooperation with the Peoples of the former Soviet Union) in 1999 and turned it into a purely linguistic and cultural association.
He holds a degree from the Finance Academy in Moscow. He worked and lived in Moscow and St. Petersburg.
He is a complete Russophile and he fluently speaks Russian.
He fell in love with Russia in the late 1990-s, while he was working at the French Embassy in Moscow where he met members of the Association of Teachers of French. The most remarkable was the meeting with Jeanna Arutiunova, its President.
At the “Family Estate”, Auvergne, January 2015
Benoît was the President of the Association from 1999 through 2014. He committed to ensure that lessons of Russian were held weekly. He thinks that these lessons are very important as he is sure that you can understand a different country or a different culture well only if you speak the language. To “master” Russia one should understand and use the Russian language. It then helps to understand with delight and love all the flavors of the Russian soul.
In 2014 Benoît became an Honorary President of the Association.
Liberty State Park, near Manhattan, right on the biggest chess board, 2014