Marine Le Pen and Éric Zemmour, the two far-right candidates in France’s presidential elections in April, have been careful not to support Russia’s attack on Ukraine. But their past stances reveal themselves to be far more ambiguous than their current declarations.
Eric Zemmour is one of the most ardent defenders of Vladimir Putin, whom he presents simply as “a Russian patriot” (don’t expect him to praise a Ukrainian patriot with the same ardor). “It is legitimate for him to defend Russia’s interests (…). The Americans have done a lot to provoke Putin,” he added without a say on the Russian military build-up.
Marine Le Pen, the other far-right candidate, is as old a friend of Russia as her rival. She does not see any reason to maintain sanctions against Russia imposed after the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and keeps advocating for “the return to normal relations” with Moscow. “Reach out” to the Kremlin is also a line often used while Vladimir Putin keeps his hand in his pockets. The fact that a Russian bank has in the past granted a loan of about 10 million euros to Marine Le Pen’s party does not put it on an equal footing in terms of credibility.
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