French presidential candidate Marin Le Pen from the "National Front" played into good hands with Russian President Vladimir Putin. They helped her to position herself as a global leader.
Right-wing leader in the homeland is accused of close ties with Russia. In France and other countries, fear that the victory of a Moscow-favored candidate will help the Kremlin sow dissent in the West. Opponent Le Pen on the second round of elections, leader of the "Forward!" Party Emmanuel Macron in the last round of the debate directly reproached his rival for "being subjected to Putin's dictates". In addition, Macron accused Le Pen and Putin, the "master of dark art on the Internet," of involvement in the publication of compromising evidence that the centrist candidate has a secret account in an offshore bank.
In recent years, close ties have been formed between Vladimir Putin and Marin Le Pen, who share "similar nationalistic views", writes Financial Times. They are supported by complex financial operations (the extreme right party received a loan in the First Russian-Czech Bank of € 9.4 million) and a large-scale positive presentation of the image of the French politician in Russian state-owned media. Since 2014. Le Pen several times announced support for the annexation of Crimea to the Russian Federation, called for the abolition of anti-Russian sanctions and called Putin a patriot.
According to Western journalists, for the Russian leader, the victory of Le Pen would provide an opportunity to obtain an agent of influence in Europe. Cooperation is beneficial to the other side: Putin's support helped Le Pen to position itself as a "global leader". Contacts of the chairman of the "National Front" with the political forces of other countries are limited only to right-wing parties, while in Russia she met with the head of state in March this year. According to French political scientists, for Le Pen this was a real breakthrough and brought it to a new level of international politics.
French intelligence is concerned about the contacts between Moscow and the headquarters of Le Pen. Special services of the country declare that they are vigilant in respect of any attempts by foreign powers to influence the course of elections.
The "National Front" does not hide close ties with Moscow and do not see anything shameful in this. At the same time, party representatives emphasize that the Kremlin does not interfere in the voting process. The ties with Russia and the support that the party enjoys reflect the natural closeness with the Kremlin, and not any systematic or organized secret subversive campaign, one of the representatives of the "National Front". "We share a similar vision of the world," he explained..
The proximity of the French right-wing party to Russia is easily explained by Russian public figures. Entrepreneur Konstantin Malofeev told the FT that the closeness of views between Putin and Le Pen is due to the fact that "Russia, in fact, raised the banner that France or Spain held in the Middle Ages - the banner of the defender of faith. That is why conservative forces from all countries turn to Russia ".
Most Russians approve of Marin Le Pen as a candidate for the presidency of France, the article says. According to the results of the research conducted by the All-Russia Public Opinion Research Center, 61% of its citizens support it, while Emmanuel Macron sympathizes with only 8%. According to the Financial Times, in part, these figures reflect the support that Le Pen receives on Russian television: journalists praise her for striving to strengthen ties with Moscow, and Macron is portrayed as "the gay puppet of the demons of globalization".