France: RN accused of being a "transmission belt" of Russian power

The National Front, now the National Rally, is accused of having been a "transmission belt" of Russian power, according to the conclusions of the commission of inquiry into foreign interference.

The leader of the National Front, Marine Le Pen received by President Vladimir Putin, March 24, 2017. Mikhail KLIMENTYEV/SPUTNIK/AFP

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Excerpts from the report, written by Renaissance MP Constance Le Grip, leaked Thursday on Mediapart and RMC. She insists on the "alignment" of the FN with the "Russian discourse" at the time of the "illegal annexation" of Crimea in 2014. The year in which the FN took out a loan from a Russian bank. No causal link established with certainty by the commission, but the report points to frequent contacts between elected FN and RN and Russian officials. "There is a political party in France that has proven to be, much more than others, a privileged vector, a relay of a Russian narrative and speeches emanating from the Kremlin," points out Constance Le Grip.

It was the RN that had launched this parliamentary commission of inquiry, supposed to defuse the regular accusations on the subject. "It's the sprinkler watered," comments the ecologist deputy Julien Bayou at the microphone of Pierrick Bonno, of the political service of RFI, in all telling how the commission of which he is part turned against the party that had triggered it. "They wanted to play, they lost. That is to say, they really wanted to whitewash themselves with a commission of inquiry, well in the end, it ends with the hearing of Marine Le Pen who is put in difficulty where we make her recognize that there is a financial link with Russia. According to Julien Bayou, Marine Le Pen may have lied under oath during her hearing, suspicions of false testimony that some deputies wish to bring to justice.

A "dishonest commission" for Marine Le Pen

RN elected officials, including commission chairman Jean-Philippe Tanguy, voted against the report, which was adopted by 11 votes to five, according to a parliamentary source. LFI abstained. The report shows "at least a guilty flippancy" of the RN with regard to Russia, but it is not "exhaustive" on the influence of other states in France, said the Insoumise Aurélien Saintoul.

Marine Le Pen speaks of a "dishonest commission" and denounces a "political trial". The boss of the National Rally had been auditioned for four hours last week. At a hastily convened press conference, the RN president of the commission, Jean-Philippe Tanguy, said he was dismayed, contesting the conclusions of a report according to him "irrelevant" and which torpedoes the message that the RN hoped to convey. "I'm really appalled. Some conclude that we would be a transmission belt. There is currently no evidence to establish these elements. On the contrary, it is not the responsibility of the parliamentary committee of inquiry and we are in the political trial totally.

>> READ ALSO: France: François Fillon assumes his links with Russia and denies any interference

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• France
• Russia
• French politics
• Marine Le Pen