MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The general secretary of En Marche! party headed by French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron launched an unsubstantiated attack against the RT broadcaster and Sputnik news agency over alleged influence on the French "democratic life."
"Today one must pay attention to facts: two large media outlets, RT and Sputnik, owned by the Russian government, are making up their daily news by spreading, developing fake news. Then this news is used, quoted and influences our democratic life," Richard Ferrand told France 2 channel.
He added that there had been "thousands of attacks against our IT systems, data bases, websites" originating in Russia because Macron wants "strong Europe in the face of Russia," while other presidential candidates had a more friendly perspective.
"It is clear that the far-right and the right-wing and their candidates have a good standing [with Russia]. While we are pushing for a strong, powerful Europe… and certain Russian media are telling us that they do not want that," Ferrand stressed.
The first round of the French presidential elections is scheduled for April 23, while the run-off is slated for May 7.
