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PARIS — The Russian government seems to have a clear favorite in the French election. Not surprisingly it’s Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally.
“The people of France are seeking a sovereign foreign policy that serves their national interests & a break from the dictate of Washington & Brussels,” Russia’s Foreign Ministry wrote Wednesday in a social media post, accompanied by a photo of Le Pen.
“French officials won’t be able to ignore these profound shifts in the attitudes of the vast majority of citizens,” added the post, which was signed by the ministry’s deputy spokesperson Andrey Nastasin.
Ties between Le Pen’s party and Russia are well-known.
The National Rally in the past opposed EU sanctions against Moscow for the invasion of Ukraine. In her 2022 presidential program, Le Pen urged deepening diplomatic ties with Russia — a proposal that was quietly removed from the party’s manifesto a few days ago as the party tries to appear more respectable and soothe concerns from France’s international partners.
The National Rally contracted a €9 million loan it took out from a Russian bank to help finance its campaign for local elections in 2014, which it only finished paying back last year.
The French will go to the polls this Sunday for the final round of a snap parliamentary election. Le Pen’s National Rally earned more than 33 percent of votes in the first round last Sunday.
But the National Rally’s chances of winning an absolute majority in parliament and form a government have since decreased as centrist and left-wing candidates joined forces to try to stop Le Pen’s party from taking power for the first time.
