French election: Alexei Navalny says Le Pen too close to Putin and calls on voters to back Macron
The imprisoned Russian dissident Alexei Navalny has called on French voters to opt for Emmanuel Macron in the second round of the French presidential election, accusing his rival Marine Le Pen of being too close to 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," the activist said in a series of tweets.
Navalny said he was "shocked" by the €9 million loan the former National Front party (now "National Rally") took out from a Russian bank.
"It's corruption. And it's a sale of political influence to Putin," said the high-profile opponent of the Kremlin, who has been imprisoned in Russia since January 2021.
Le Pen's party is still paying off the loan, initially taken out in 2014 with a Russian bank, the First Czech-Russian Bank (FCBR), which was subsequently closed in 2016.
The debt was 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?" said Navalny, whose notoriety stemmed from his investigations into the corruption networks of Russia's elites.
"I don't doubt for a minute that negotiations with these people and deals with them included a shady political element. This is corruption. And this is selling political influence to Putin," he added.
The far-right presidential challenger -- who qualified for next Sunday's run-off along with Macron after the first round on April 10 -- has justified seeking financing from Russia by citing the refusal
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