Europe 1 with AFP 5:24 p.m., April 20, 2022
Imprisoned Russian opponent Alexei Navalny called on Wednesday to vote for Emmanuel Macron in the second round of the French presidential election, accusing the party of his rival Marine Le Pen of compromising with Vladimir Putin.
"It is without any hesitation that I call on the French to vote for Emmanuel Macron on April 24, but I would like to address those who do not rule out voting for Marine Le Pen", wrote the activist in a series of tweets.
Imprisoned Russian opponent Alexei Navalny called on Wednesday to vote for Emmanuel Macron in the second round of the French presidential election, accusing the party of his rival Marine Le Pen of compromising with Vladimir Putin.
"It is without any hesitation that I call on the French to vote for Emmanuel Macron on April 24, but I would like to address those who do not rule out voting for Marine Le Pen", wrote the activist in a series of tweets.
"This bank is a money laundering agency"
Imprisoned in Russia since January 2021, Mr. Navalny said he was "shocked" by the loan of 9 million euros taken out in 2014 by the former National Front party (now National Rally) from a Russian bank.
"It's corruption. And it's a sale of political influence to Putin," denounced the opponent.
The RN continues to repay this loan which had initially been taken out in 2014 with a Russian bank, the First Czech-Russian Bank (FCBR), closed in 2016. The debt had been transferred to a Russian car rental company, Conti , then resold to Aviazaptchast, a firm run by former Russian soldiers.
"This bank (FCBR) is a well-known money laundering agency which was created at the instigation of Putin. Would you like it if a French politician obtained a loan from Cosa Nostra?" Ms. Navalny, who built his notoriety with his investigations into Russian elite corruption networks.
"Putin and his political elite are completely immoral"
To justify having turned to a Russian financial institution, the FN accused him, the French banks of not granting him loans.
Considered Vladimir Putin's main opponent, Alexei Navalny suffered serious poisoning in Russia in 2020, for which he holds the Kremlin responsible.
The latter denies but has never opened an investigation.
Returning to Russia, Alexeï Navalny was imprisoned.
Last March, he was sentenced to 9 years in prison for "fraud".
His organizations were banned for "extremism" in 2021. At the start of his career, at the end of the 2000s, Alexeï Navalny had approached Russian nationalists critical of the Kremlin.
He also had controversial remarks against immigration.
“I have been criticized a lot for that, but I believe that my ability to speak with people with different political opinions is my advantage,” Navalny said on Wednesday.
He also attacked the "European right" with sympathy for the Russian president.
"Putin and his political elite are completely immoral, they despise family values: having second and even third families, mistresses and yachts is the norm for them," he wrote.