The Kremlin is following the French election results “very closely”, said Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov right after the first round of the French general election.
President of Russia Vladimir Putin the goal is to increase its influence within Europe, and the election victory of the far-right National Alliance party is part of this plan. The party has had close ties to Russia for years, and one of its leaders Marine Le Pen has openly said that he admires Putin.
– The Russian leadership and Putin are watching the French elections with satisfaction, states the professor at the University of Tartu Stefano Braghiroli.
Braghiroli has studied Putin’s power in Europe. According to him, France has been one of Russia’s strategic priorities both in spreading disinformation and in efforts to weaken democracy.
– It is also a victory for Putin if the National Alliance is elected to lead the French government, says Braghiroli.
The National Coalition party has distanced itself from Russia after the Russian invasion, but Le Pen has given her support to the annexation of Crimea also after February 2022. The party has also had a loan from a Russian bank.
Professor at the University of Helsinki Juhana Aunesluoman according to the party still has a common ideological vision with Putin’s Russia.
– Although they distance themselves, they share similar conservative values and ideology with Putin’s Russia, and that will not change in an instant, says Aunesluoma.
On the other hand, the party’s opinion about the Russian attack has changed at different turns of the war. Back in 2014, the party gave its support to Russia’s illegal occupation of Crimea, but it condemned Russia’s major invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
– There has been a lot of pressure behind this. A large majority of French people and the whole of Europe condemns the Russian invasion. The party has been forced to change its attitude and fade its connections to Russia, Aunesluoma estimates.
A year ago, the National Coalition tried to clean up its reputation as a pro-Russia party and a mouthpiece of the Kremlin.
It established a parliamentary inquiry into foreign interference in French politics. The goal was to show that the party is not on Putin’s “leash rope”, but the opposite happened.
Investigation report spread to the public before its time, and it was stated that the National Alliance party had acted as a communication channel for the Russian government and in particular had supported the illegal annexation of Crimea to Russia.
The report also notes that Le Pen’s political stances sometimes echo “the official language of the Putin regime.”
The report also describes the close contacts of other representatives of the party with the Russian authorities. Le Pen visited the Kremlin just before the 2017 French presidential election and took warm group photos with Putin.
The party itself firmly stands by its position that it no longer has connections with the Kremlin.
Statements about Russia disappeared from the website
According to Professor Stefano Braghirol of the University of Tartu, the party’s concrete connections with Russia have certainly decreased, but the connection has remained.
– These parties try to hide the connection with Russia and reshape their “narrative” as if in terms of national interest. This is how they hide the underlying motive, i.e. Russia’s interest, Braghiroli states.
The National Coalition has removed from their website his program for the 2022 presidential election, which called for deepening diplomatic relations with Moscow, suspending cooperation projects with Germany and abandoning NATO’s integrated military leadership.
According to Braghirol, there are also direct connections between the party’s current candidates and the Kremlin.
– There are a couple of candidates who are of Russian origin, citizens of Russia, and do not even try to hide their connection to the Kremlin.
The party paid back the Russian loan
When Russia illegally annexed the Crimean Peninsula in 2014, the National Coalition Party received a loan of more than nine million euros from a Russian bank with ties to the Kremlin.
The party still had a loan from a Russian bank a couple of years ago. The year 2022 in the televised debates of the presidential elections Sitting President of France Emmanuel Macron accused Le Pen of being dependent on Vladimir Putin. Last fall, the party announced that it had repaid the loan.
In any case, the attitude towards Russia’s conquest of Crimea has not changed. The parliamentary report notes that Le Pen’s comments on Crimea have repeated word for word the official language of the Putin administration even after February 2022.
Still 2016 Marine Le Pen reported the BBCthat the EU, not Vladimir Putin, is the real threat to Europe.
President: No long-range weapons for Ukraine
During the first round of the parliamentary elections held on Sunday, the 28-year-old chairman of the party Jordan Bardella said Russia is a “multidimensional threat to both France and Europe” as he tried to realign the party’s close relationship with Russia.
However, Bardella has drawn the exact line that France would not give Ukraine military equipment or missiles with which Ukraine can attack Russian territory. He has also said that he is not in favor of sending French troops to Ukraine.
If the National Alliance gets enough seats in the second round of the parliamentary elections next Sunday, Bardella could become the prime minister of France. It would give him responsibility for managing the military and approving budgets.
France will hold presidential elections in 2027, and the party aims to make Marine Le Pen the next president of France.
– This was the first installment of the big struggle of 2027, says Juhana Aunesluoma.
Braghiroli believes that Russia is calculating and is now quietly waiting to see how power will be distributed in the leadership of European countries.
It wants to support the far right and create a split that could weaken support for Ukraine.
– Good champagne was certainly opened in Putin’s inner circle when the results of the first round of the French elections came out, Braghiroli states.