PARIS: French policies will not be influenced by Russian “intimidation”, far-right leader Marine Le Pen and her party’s chief Jordan Bardella said Saturday as they positioned themselves ahead of elections next year.
The two politicians from the National Rally (RN) party — seen in the past as friendly toward Moscow — condemned Russia’s “hostile” acts against France.
Voter surveys put Le Pen as the front-runner in the first round of France’s presidential election to take place in April next year, despite an appeals court upholding a graft conviction against her. Bardella is expected to become her prime minister if she ends up winning.
Their joint statement putting distance between themselves and Moscow came after the Kremlin this week ordered Russian subsidiaries of several big French businesses seized, along with the subsidiary of Swiss food giant Nestle.
Moscow said the move was a blow against “unfriendly countries” that back Ukraine, which it has invaded and is fighting to conquer.
French President Emmanuel Macron — who is not contesting next year’s election, having reached his two-term limit — on Friday hosted a meeting of French political leaders to discuss the growing threat from Moscow. Le Pen did not attend the meeting.
Le Pen’s rivals in the presidential race accuse her of being cosy with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Her party previously contracted a 9.4-million-euro ($11-million) loan with a Moscow bank, which was paid off in 2023.
Although Le Pen traveled to Moscow in 2017 to see Putin, she went on to condemn Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine launched in 2022.
In her statement with Bardella on Saturday, she said that Russia “cannot hope to directly or indirectly dictate the policies” of France through “intimidation, threats, destabilization or psychological pressure”.
They added: “No provocation, no clandestine operation and no destabilization action will be able to push France to facilitate Russia’s war aims in Ukraine.”
