Far-right Le Pen is currently visiting Russia at the invitation of senior Russian lawmaker Leonid Slutsky as part of cooperation program between State Duma lawmakers and French political circles. The National Front leader is one of the main candidates in the French presidential elections, the first round of which is scheduled for April 23.
"Marine Le Pen has difficulty being recognized on the international arena, therefore, a meeting with Putin is a way of respecting his electoral weight in France and boosting credibility," Yves Pozzo di Borgo, a French senator from the Union of Democrats and Independents (UDI) and a member of the Commission for Foreign Affairs, Defense and Armed Forces, said.
While in Moscow, presidential hopeful Le Pen stressed that she had not seen any evidence of Russian interfering or backing any candidate during the French presidential campaign.
The French senator agreed pointing out that Putin's meeting with Le Pen does not necessarily show that the Russian president is giving priority to one candidate over another, noting that "it would have been a good thing if other French candidates met with President Putin as well."
At the meeting with Le Pen, the Russian leader pointed out that Moscow attributed great importance to the relations with Paris and did not want to influence the upcoming presidential elections there "in no way" reserving the right to communicate with all the representatives of different French political forces.
