Russia
♥ Marine Le Pen
‘It’s
hard not to love her.’ Moscow can’t get enough of the far-right
French politician.
By AMIE
FERRIS-ROTMAN 2/17/17, 4:10 AM CET Updated 2/17/17, 7:26 AM CET
MOSCOW — Russia is
on a roll: Donald Trump is in the White House, the wheels of Brexit
are in motion and the Kremlin’s Gallic target of affection —
France’s Marine Le Pen — is riding high in the polls.
“We’re on the
verge of a new global order,” said Maria Katasonova, the public
face of a Russian campaign to back the National Front leader in the
coming French election. “Marine will become president,”
Katasonova predicted confidently, in an interview inside Russia’s
labyrinthine parliament, where the 21-year-old assists a hardline,
high-ranking lawmaker from the ruling United Russia party.
As it did during the
U.S. election, Russian state media is paying close attention to
political events unfolding in France, aware of the country’s
central role in gluing the EU together, especially after Brexit.
Le Pen is clearly
the favorite, having won Russian hearts and minds by saying EU
sanctions on Moscow over the Ukraine conflict should be lifted and by
publicly supporting the Russian annexation of the Crimean peninsula.
Such sentiment, combined with the far-right politician’s election
promise to take her country out of the European Union, is music to
Russian ears. While the EU remains Russia’s largest trading
partner, both Western and Russian insiders say the Kremlin is keen to
see the bloc weakened.
On television and
social media, the 48-year-old French politician receives
near-constant adulation, and particularly dedicated fans have created
paintings and sculptures of her likeness.
Katasonova is among
those who have caught Le Pen fever. In addition to the near-daily Le
Pen tweets she sends to her tens of thousands of followers,
Katasonova is planning pro-Le Pen gatherings in the lead-up to April
23, the first round of the French election, in which Le Pen is up
against (among others) the independent and pro-EU Emmanuel Macron and
the conservative Francois Fillon, who has been tainted by a scandal
over payments to his wife and children. Katasonova organized similar
events in Moscow for Trump on election day and his inauguration.
“She’s a
Euroskeptic, she supports Russia and she’s just the best
candidate,” Katasonova said. “It’s hard not to love her.”
A ‘charismatic
blonde’
On the social
networking site VKontakte, Russia’s answer to Facebook, fan clubs
dedicated to Le Pen have mushroomed in recent months. In some she is
described as a “beauty” — others have developed punchy memes
for the National Front leader. One group, self-described as a
“conservative patriotic resource,” recently posted photographs of
Le Pen throughout her childhood.
The state-run daily
Rossiyskaya Gazeta said a recently released Le Pen campaign video
resembled a Hollywood trailer and described the politician as a
“charismatic blonde” who was a “beautiful girl” in her youth.
The
English-language, Kremlin-backed outlets RT and Sputnik have showered
Le Pen with praise; state broadcaster Rossiya-24 offers more nuance
yet clearly favors Le Pen, portraying her as an innocent surrounded
by scandal and chaos.
“Le Pen’s
philosophy and anti-globalist vision of the world is pretty similar
to many people here,” said Fyodor Lukyanov, head of the Council on
Foreign and Defence Policy, which advises the Kremlin. “If she
wins, it would be the end of European integration and a profound
change across the entire system. It will become messy for the EU.”
The Ukrainian
sculptor Nikolai Shmatko stands beside his bust of Marine Le Pen |
Rafael Schmatko
The Ukrainian
sculptor Nikolai Shmatko stands beside his bust of Marine Le Pen |
Rafael Schmatko
A muse for political
artists
The White Star art
group, which pays homage to the Russian state but said it receives no
Kremlin funding, even produced a “triptych” of oil paintings of
Vladimir Putin, Le Pen and Trump. Identically dressed in black and
white, their steely gazes turned to the right, the leaders appear to
peer into the future. “Le Pen will help us fight terrorists. No one
else in Europe is capable,” said Mikhail Kovalyov, a member of the
art group, echoing Putin and Trump’s joint pledge to tackle
terrorism.
When Le Pen’s
niece and National Front party member Marion Maréchal-Le Pen visited
Moscow in November, Katasonova presented her with a print of the
triptych. “She loved it,” Katasonova gushes. That same week,
Maréchal-Le Pen held talks with senior members of Russia’s
parliament, including its first deputy chairman Alexander Zhukov.
“You will push the French leadership in the right direction,” he
told her at the meeting, according to official documents.
Maréchal-Le Pen
also delivered a well-attended speech on Russia and France’s
“shared destiny” at the Moscow State Institute of International
Relations, a prestigious school with ties to the Russian Foreign
Ministry.
“Our triptych is
an oracle,” Katasonova said. “Putin knew Trump would win. Now
we’ll see with Le Pen.”
Admiration of Le Pen
has found its expression in marble, too.
The Ukrainian
sculptor Nikolai Shmatko, a fervent Trump supporter who has created
several busts of the American president, made a life-size bust of Le
Pen in marble late last year. In stone, Le Pen has a slight curl to
her lips. The French text beneath her face reads “Le Pen: The
French president.” According to Shmatko’s Twitter feed, he
designed the bust to garner support for the candidate, saying it was
“God’s will” that she become president. He said he wants to
give the bust to Le Pen when she wins the election.
As the French
presidential campaign heats up, so do accusations that Russia has had
a hand in Le Pen’s success in the polls. RT and Sputnik have spread
rumors about Macron being gay. This week Macron accused Russia of
hacking his campaign — an accusation denied by the Kremlin.
Whatever the case,
Le Pen clearly has powerful friends in Russia. Beset by financial
woes, her campaign was able to borrow €11 million from a private
Russian lender in 2014.
At the time,
Russia’s Shaltai-Boltai, or Humpty-Dumpty, leaked messages that
allegedly proved Le Pen received financing in return for recognizing
Crimea as part of Russia. Le Pen denied the accusations. The emails
connected her to Putin enthusiast and internet personality Konstantin
Rykov, who regularly tweets about Le Pen.
Katasonova will not
say how many people belong to her pro-Le Pen collective, which
includes the White Star art group, but admits Rykov is their de-facto
leader. “He was one of the first to say she’d win.”
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