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cial Times, Nov. 25, 2015; Kim Willsher & Alec Luhn, Vladimir Putin Cancels Paris Visit Amid Syria Row The Guardian, Oct. 11, 2016. France Says Russia Sanctions to Remain in Place Associated Press, Mar. 9, 2017. Vivienne Walt, Why France’s Marine Le Penis Doubling Down on Russia Support
TIME, Jan. 9, 2017.
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Ibid.; Anne-Claude Martin, National Front’s Russian Loans Cause Uproar in European Parliament EURACTIV.fr, Dec. 5, 2014; Sanita Jemberga, et al, How Le Pen’s Party Brokered Russian Loans EUobserver, May 3, 2017. Le Pen Meets Putin Ahead of French Presidential Election France 24, Mar. 24, 2017.
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Alina Polyakova et al., The Kremlin’s Trojan Horses, Atlantic Council, at 7-8 (Nov. 15,
2016). John Irish, Russia Not Interfering in French Elections, Says Candidate Fillon,’’ Reuters, Mar. 31, 2017. Association Dialogue Franco-Russe, Board, Vladimir Yakunin,’’ http:// dialoguefrancorusse.com/en/association-uk/board/557-vladimir-yakunin.html (visited Dec. 30,
2017); US. Department of the Treasury, Treasury Sanctions Russian Officials, Members Of that prompted Putin to cancel a planned official visit to Paris.
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The French Foreign Ministry has also maintained that EU sanctions on the Russian Federation must remain in place until the Minsk Agreements are fully implemented.
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Among Western European powers, however, broader French society provides relatively fertile ground for Russian influence. The country has along historical relationship with Russia, as evidenced by Franco-Russian ties that exist in political parties, universities, think tanks, and journalist circles.
Pro-Kremlin sentiment has been demonstrated by actors across the French political spectrum, especially on the far right, far left, and center right. The Front National (FN), Marine Le Pen’s
Eurosceptic and ultra-nationalist party, has staunchly defended Russian actions in Ukraine and Syria, calling for balanced relations between Russia and the Western powers, particularly against an Islamist ‘‘menace.’’
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FN publicly acknowledged it took a loan of nine million euros from the First Czech-Russian Bank in Moscow, reportedly owned by pro-Kremlin oligarchs, after French banks refused to loan money to the party because of its historically anti-Semitic and extremist positions.
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In the month prior to the first round of the 2017 presidential election, Le Pen traveled to Moscow to meet with Putin and endorse the lifting of European sanctions on Russia, while Putin told the assembled press that Russia did not seek to influence the French poll but simply reserve the right to talk to all of the country’s political forces.’’
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Far-left and Communist parties in France have been sympathetic to the Russian government, based on skepticism toward Europe and a shared penchant for statism.
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Meanwhile, some center- right elements in France have viewed Russia through the prism of business and industry interests—during the 2016 campaign, Republican party candidate Francois Fillon cautioned against a European hard line on sanctions and a military buildup along NATO’s eastern flank, and dismissed assertions by US. government officials of Russian meddling in the French poll as ‘‘fantasies.’’
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The Kremlin has also cultivated ties with French civil society and religious actors it can exploit to influence French policies in
Russia’s favor. For example, Vladimir Yakunin, the former head of Russian Railways who is under US. sanctions, is the co-president of Association Dialogue Franco-Russe in Paris, which, in the wake of European sanctions on Russia, has advocated for normal ties between France and Russia to be promptly re-established.
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123 The Russian Leadership’s Inner Circle, And An Entity For Involvement In The Situation In Ukraine Mar. 20, 2014; Association Dialogue Franco-Russe, The Franco-Russian Dialogue is in Favor of the Imminent Resumption of Normal Cooperation with Russia Mar. 29, 2016.
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Natalya Kanevskaya, How The Kremlin Wields Its Soft Power In France Radio Free Eu-

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