It is well known that there are a lot of “useful idiots” in Europe, who support the Kremlin in virtually everything. And the articles on this topic are increasingly more often published in media. At the same time, there appears more proof to the effect that the so-called Putin’s friends share his revanchist ideology for money.
One of the latest confirmations of that was a nine million euro loan extended by the First Czech Russian Bank to the Front National, a right-wing French party led by Marine Le Pen. This was reported by Agence France-Presse, which referred to the party’s treasurer Wallerand Saint-Just. Practically, it is about receiving Russia’s money, since the headquarters of the bank, which was founded in 1996, is located in Moscow. According to the information on the bank’s website, Russian businessman Roman Popov owns 100 percent of its shares.
Saint-Just confirmed Mediapart’s information about an agreement with the bank, which was made back in September. According to him, the Front National has already received two million euros, the first tranche of the credit. At the same time, the treasurer noted that the party has long been looking for a source of funding for its election campaigns and is regularly rejected by banks in France and other European countries.
The Day asked foreign experts to comment on the fact of financing of the right-wing French party by Moscow and the way it should be viewed in Europe.
Tatiana KASTUEVA-JEAN, head of the Russie.NEI.Visions program at French Institute of International Relations, Paris:
“Since the beginning of the year journalists have been extensively investigating the issue of Russia’s money used to fund the Front National, which today is one of the most active supporters of Vladimir Putin’s policy in France. Before the party used to be friends with the LDPR and Vladimir Zhirinovsky, and today Marine Le Pen is received in Russia on the top level, officially and openly, by Sergey Naryshkin and Dmitry Rogozin. In response to journalists’ accusations, Le Pen stated that she would be happy to get a loan from a French bank, but they all turned her party down, so she was forced to ask for a loan from the US, Spain, and Russia. Such acquisition of financing does not violate the law, it would have been illegal if it had been done through hidden accounting or money laundering. In this respect, Le Pen’s party is put under the scrutiny of journalists, the public, and authorities. In fact, they have already been in a similar situation: for example, during the past week, Le Monde published four extensive articles on channels of Russia’s influence in France. Le Pen’s party occupies an important place in this investigation. Similar investigations appeared in Liberation and Le Nouvel Observateur. These investigations dug into Russian money, so the latest news is just the proof of the assumptions. The story did not cause a scandal, this news is not on the front pages of French papers. However, this could be a case of delayed effect, and it is still to go off in the next election campaign. Generally speaking, France has always known scandals around funding political parties: Chirac and Sarkozy were also under fire. The latter allegedly received money from the Libyan leader, Gaddafi.
“I think this story of Russian funding polarizes the position of supporters and opponents of the Front National even more: the proponents will defend themselves accusing French lenders, who should have forced the party to resort to Russia, of bigotry, while to the party’s opponents it will offer even more opportunity to discredit and criticize Le Pen. Yet we will hardly see an abrupt change of heart among voters, or the loss of the party’s or its leader’s popularity.”
Andreas UMLAND, political scientist, Berlin:
“This being just a loan rather than a money transfer, it might be exempt of restrictions which are normally applied to such transactions. This is more a political than legal problem. As far as I know, this indirect support is the first case of this sort involving a political party and Russia. It was rumored that other similar parties, like Hungary’s Jobbik or Bulgaria’s Attack, had also received aid from Russia. However, until now there has been no documental proof.
“Should France’s government react to the fact of a party accepting Russian money? I would like to emphasize that this is a political and moral issue, and not a legal one. It is hard to say if such loans should be restricted, since they are no direct funding (on condition that the loan is paid back).”
The French take pride in being champions of liberty. Moreover, the motto of the French Republic reads “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity.” But while Ukraine is fighting for its freedom, the Front National backs Putin’s aggression and even receives Russian money. How should we interpret this?
“I agree that it is disgraceful. However, I see a silver lining here: this credit also discredits both Russia and the Front National. Now Russia will become more unacceptable for Europe’s left-wing parties looking for support. Russian money will create problems for the Front National at home. Seen in the context of information war, such developments have multiple consequences.”
