Entertaining policy

In June 2016, the leader of the Ultra Party of the National Front party, in June 2016, was going to issue a borrow of 3 million euros at the Russian Bank for 6 percent per annum for “financing an election campaign in France” at the Russian bank. This was reported by the French news site Mediapart with reference to the internal documents of the party.

According to the Treasury of the party of Valeran de Saint-Just, the party really planned to carry out a loan, but did not do it. “It was just a plan that was not realized,” he said to the publication. As reported,

On July 21, 2016, the Central Bank withdrew the license from the Strategy Bank, which ranked 209th in Russia in terms of assets. As noted in the regulator’s message , the bank violated the legislation, “inappropriately evaluated” the risks and completely lost capital.

This week, Le Pen said that neither Russia nor Russian banks are sources of financing its election campaign. However, she admitted that some foreign banks are nevertheless involved in the financing of the National Front.

On March 24, Le Pen during a visit to Moscow met with Vladimir Putin . The Russian president called Le Pen the representative of the "quickly developing spectrum of European political forces." Putin also said that Russia does not intend to intervene in the course of the French election campaign. "In no case do we want to somehow influence the events that are taking place, but we reserve the right to communicate with all representatives of all the political forces of the country, just as our partners in Europe, the United States."

Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov emphasized that Le Pen's visit to Moscow was organized along the inter-parliamentary line. According to him, she visited the exhibition of French works of art in the Patriarchal Chambers, "and on this occasion she was adopted in the Kremlin President Putin." According to adviser Le Pen, the meeting lasted about an hour and a half.

During a meeting with the Speaker of the State Duma, Vyacheslav Volodin Le Pen opposed anti -Russian sanctions. "We do not believe in either the diplomacy of threats, nor in the diplomacy of sanctions, nor in the diplomacy of blackmail, which, unfortunately, the EU has recently applied to the Russian Federation and against its own members," Le Pen said.

On January 17, in an interview with the Russian newspaper Izvestia, Le Pen spoke for the abolition of sanctions and the recognition of Crimea by the Russian . "I intend to provide France for independence from the United States and NATO and restore normal relations between France and Russia, in particular, by lifting unfair and ineffective sanctions," said the leader of the National Front.

Le Pen again confirmed that she considers Crimea by Russian territory. "After the referendum, which showed the consent of the people to join Russia, I also recognize the Crimea part of the Russian Federation. The Crimea belonging to Ukraine was only an administrative issue of Soviet times, the peninsula was never Ukrainian," she said. The head of the Ultra Party also stated that in case of victory, it would initiate a referendum to withdraw France from the EU.

In early January, the French media reported that the Russian Deposit Insurance Agency filed a lawsuit with a request to recover a loan debt issued by the National Front in 2014 by the First Czech-Russian Bank. The Central Bank revoked the license from this bank in July 2016.

In November 2014, the First Czech-Russian Bank issued a loan of the size of nine million euros to the election campaign. According to the correspondence of Russian officials published by the Hackers of the Anonymous International, the loan could be "gratitude" for the position of Le Pen on the Crimea.