The Kremlin said Monday it is “attentively observing” the gains of far-right parties in the EU elections, which prompted French French President Emmanuel Macron to announce a snap general election.
“As far as we can see, the majority will be pro-European and pro-Ukrainian… but we see the trend of rising popularity of right-wing parties,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
“While pro-Europeans so far retain their leadership positions, in time, based on what we see, the right-wing parties will be treading on their heels. We are attentively observing these processes,” he added.
When asked whether Macron’s decision to call a surprise general election after Marine Le Pen’s National Rally dealt his liberal party a crushing defeat, Peskov said Russia “would not like to interfere in these domestic matters.”
But he said Moscow would also be watching this vote closely, due to the French leadership’s “extremely unfriendly and even hostile attitude to our country.”
Le Pen has historic pro-Russia links but has distanced her party from Moscow since the launch of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. She has, however, criticized the scale of military aid that Macron wants to give Kyiv.