While the National Rally is regularly singled out for its links with Russia, in particular due to Russian loans obtained in 2014 to finance its electoral campaigns, or the complacency of Marine Le Pen with regard to Vladimir Putin (less clearly displayed since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine in 2022), David Lisnard has just extended the list of grievances. The LR mayor of Cannes, who had called for the resignation of Eric Ciotti after his alliance with the RN, explained at the microphone of Sud Radio, this Wednesday, June 26, that he feared that at the end of the legislative elections, he would not be elected to less “one of the fifteen RN candidates who had been chosen by Vladimir Putin to be election verifiers in Russia”. “Are we aware of foreign interference?” insisted David Lisnard.
When he mentions “fifteen candidates from the National Rally who were appointed by Putin to be election auditors in Russia”the councilor refers to a survey published by Mediapart last week. The accusation brandished by Lisnard is a little approximate since what the journalists reveal, more precisely, is that“at least fifteen candidates invested by the RN have carried out electoral observation missions for Russia or high-level visits to Moscow, or have been the pillars of associations promoting the regime of Vladimir Putin”.
“A lesson in democracy” given by the Russians
The elders “election checkers in Russia” invested by the RN for these legislative elections are in fact nine in number. The vice-president of the party, Hélène Laporte, candidate in Lot-et-Garonne, the MEP Virginie Joron, candidate in Bas-Rhin, the deputy Julie Lechanteux, candidate in Var, as well as the spokesperson for the RN , Jean-Lin Lacapelle (who was also an observer of the legislative elections in 2021), candidate in Loiret, were part of the delegation of ten RN MEPs sent by Russia to validate the constitutional referendum organized in July 2020. They themselves were openly congratulated for having attended the vote as observers, even praising “a lesson in democracy” given by the Russians. As a reminder, this vote authorized Vladimir Putin to remain as president for two more terms, or to include the ban on marriage for same-sex couples in the Russian Constitution.
The conditions for the visit of French elected officials, organized at the expense of a benefactor whose identity is not known, were later revealed by the independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta (censored by Moscow since 2022). For his part, RN MEP Thierry Mariani had declared, during a hearing at the Assembly, that the observation mission in which he took part in 2020 “was at the invitation of the Russians and was paid for by the Russians”. His assistant Tamara Volokhova, a Franco-Russian who today serves as an RN advisor to the European Parliament, was also on the trip – a candidate for the 2022 legislative elections, she did not run this time, but her name came back on the list. in front of the stage thanks to a skirmish between Jordan Bardella and Gabriel Attal Tuesday June 25 on TF1.
Candidate in Ain, and also spokesperson for the party, Andréa Kotarac carried out an electoral observation mission during the elections organized by pro-Russians in Donbass in 2018. An election supported by Russia but judged illegal by the international community (the United Nations and the European Union in particular). Switched to the RN in 2019, Kotarac was then regional advisor for Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes under the LFI banner. Other former observers, RN MEP Dominique Bilde, candidate in Meurthe-et-Moselle, traveled for the regional elections in 2017; his son Bruno Bilde, outgoing deputy invested in Pas-de-Calais, but also former deputy Ludovic Pajot, substitute candidate in another constituency of Pas-de-Calais, during the presidential election in 2018; and the deputy Frédéric Boccaletti, candidate for re-election in Var, who stood out due to a conviction for “violence with a weapon”, during the legislative elections in 2021 (just like Jean-Lin Lacapelle, already mentioned ).
These observation missions on behalf of Russia have notably attracted the attention of the recent parliamentary commission of inquiry into interference by foreign powers – even though it was RN Jean-Philippe Tanguy (currently running for re-election) who chaired it. The commission, in the chapter on Russian interference attempts in its report published in June 2023, returns at length to “the particular case of the National Rally”. “One of the ways the National Rally has favored to show its proximity and support for Mr. Putin’s regime has been for party members to travel to Russia to endorse the Kremlin’s policy, in particular the illegal annexation of Crimea.”, write the authors of the report. They further recall that in March 2023, “the European Parliament has ruled against [de trois eurodéputés RN] a ban, until the end of the year, on participating in official election observation missions abroad”. And the parliamentarians therefore note that“it is permissible to question possible interference by the Russian authorities who may have wanted to use the legitimacy of European deputies […] to validate the speech and actions of the Kremlin”.
The Le Pen sisters, other Moscow-compatible candidates
The proximity to Russia of six other candidates is also pointed out by Mediapart, but takes other forms. Without her visit being correlated with a vote, MEP Joëlle Mélin, candidate for the legislative elections in Bouches-du-Rhône, went to Moscow in 2017 as part of a parliamentary mission. Rémy Berthonneau, candidate in Gironde, was an employee of the French company Safran in Russia, then general director of the French company Cifal in Moscow. He then worked to develop Franco-Russian relations, in particular through his Free French collective, launched in 2015.
Former UMP activist, lawyer Pierre Gentillet, RN candidate in Cher, founded the Cercle Pouchkine, a pro-Putin think tank, in 2015. Having remained loyal to RT France for a long time, he has become a regular columnist for CNews since the Kremlin channel was banned. Among the candidates nominated by Eric Ciotti and supported by the RN, is the mayor of Maisons-Laffitte Jacques Myard, candidate in Yvelines, close to Thierry Mariani with whom he made two trips to occupied Crimea.
The Le Pen sisters complete the family of Moscow-compatible candidates. Once again invested in Pas-de-Calais, Marine Le Pen had displayed, upon her arrival at the head of the party in 2011, her «admiration» for Vladimir Putin. “The former president of the National Rally visited Moscow at least four times: in 2013, in 2014, in 2015 and in 2017. During her first three trips, she was welcomed each time at the Duma then , in 2017, by Mr. Putin in the Kremlin”, traced the parliamentary commission of inquiry against interference. As for Marie-Caroline Le Pen, the candidate in Sarthe went to Russia during the 2018 Football World Cup. At her side during the trip: her husband Philippe Olivier, RN MEP, who was also moved to Crimea two years later, as an observer of the constitutional referendum.
