Report Examines Pro-Russian Right In France Ahead Of Presidential Elections

The Free Rus­sia Foun­da­tion, a US think tank, has pub­lished a report exam­in­ing pro-Russ­ian polit­i­cal forces in France, argu­ing that the lead­ing lob­by­ists for Russ­ian inter­ests are French politi­cians loy­al to the Krem­lin. Accord­ing to the report, these politi­cians include far-right fig­ure Marine Le Pen and for­mer Prime Min­is­ter François Fil­lon along with rep­re­sen­ta­tives of the media, busi­ness, and civ­il society:

Alexan­dra  Yat­syk  exam­ines  pro-Russ­ian  polit­i­cal  forces  and  groups  in  France   ahead of the 2022 pres­i­den­tial elec­tions. As the author writes, while the upcom­ing  elec­tions are a crit­i­cal event in France deeply affect­ed by the Covid-19 pan­dem­ic,  they  are  also  cru­cial  for  Moscow,  which  has  a  very  real  chance  to  see  a  loy­al   can­di­date  win  the  pres­i­den­cy.  Although  Rus­sia  did  not  fig­ure  very  promi­nent­ly  in   France’s  domes­tic  dis­course  over  2020–2021,  the  far  right’s  agen­da,  includ­ing   crit­i­cism  of  Prime  Min­is­ter  Jean  Castex’s  new  secu­ri­ty  pol­i­cy  and  the  pro­mo­tion   of  var­i­ous  con­spir­a­cies  serves  the  Krem­lin  with­out  even  hav­ing  to  men­tion  Rus­sia   itself. Nev­er­the­less, dur­ing the pan­dem­ic, the Krem­lin did hold an active aware­ness  cam­paign in the con­text of its “vac­ci­na­tion pol­i­cy” via French media chan­nels loy­al  to Rus­sia and by brib­ing new social influencers.

Read the full report here.