'The Russians are coming’ in the French Elections. Russia Today and Sputnik plan to sue Emmanuel Macron
Thousands of documents from the Macron campaign are released, as was the case in the United States with Hillary Clinton. Accusations of a gay affair come from "sites, some of which were linked to Russian interests." Kremlin the denies the charges. The French Church (and Pope Francis) offer criteria to evaluate the candidates but refrain from giving instructions as to how to vote.
Moscow (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Russia's state-funded Russia Today television and Sputnik news agency plan to sue French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron over accusations that they mounted a smear campaign against him, their chief editor Margarita Simonyan said Friday.
"We're sick of their lying. We're going to sue," Simonyan wrote on Twitter. In a statement, Sputnik said that it "intends to contact lawyers over the fact of constant false accusations by the headquarters of EM!", referring to Macron's En Marche (On the Move) movement.
The decision by the two Russian media outlets comes at the end of the campaign to elect the next French president, set for tomorrow.
The runoff pits Emmanuel Macron, 39, an investment banker and a former economy minister, and Marine Le Pen, 48, running for the National Front, an anti-globalisation nationalist party.
The election campaign has had moments worthy of spy movies and secret plots, blamed on Russia, which has been accused of trying to influence international politics behind the scenes.
In this sense, France’s election echoes the recent US presidential election, characterised by never dispelled allegations and suspicions that Moscow favoured Donald Trump against Hillary Clinton.
Last night, a few minutes before the end of the campaign, thousands of internal documents from the Macron campaign were released online.
For the centrist candidate's furious staff, this was an attempt at "democratic destabilisation, like that seen during the last presidential campaign in the United States".
At the time, Hillary Clinton had accused Russian hackers of posting her emails, which contributed to her defeat.
So far, Russia has not been blamed for what has been dubbed ‘EMleaks’. However, last month, a Japan-based cybersecurity research group said that Russian hackers had targeted Macron's campaign.
Macron described the insinuations as "fake news and lies" from "sites, some of which were linked to Russian interests."
Macron's staff blame Russia Today and Sputnik for rumours about the candidate's alleged gay affair.
In February, Macron's spokesman Benjamin Griveaux had accused the Kremlin of mounting a "smear campaign" via state media.
"We never had, and do not have, the intention of interfering in the domestic affairs of other countries, and especially not in their electoral process," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in February.
Meanwhile, the decision by the Catholic Bishops' Conference of France to remain neutral in the election has raised some eyebrows. However, the Bishops did issue a statement citing criteria of discernment to assess the candidates, like their attitude towards welcoming migrants and “filial ties” in families.
On his way back from Egypt, Pope Francis himself waded into the debate by stressing the importance of reforming Europe and welcoming migrants, but he did not give any "voting instructions".
"I know that one [candidate] represents the strong right,” the pontiff said, “but the other I truly don’t know where they come from - for this (reason) I cannot give a clear opinion on France.”
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