Cybersecurity

Disappointment in Russia as Kremlin Favorites Lag in French Race

  • Legislators call Macron victory result of pressure on voters
  • Kremlin says ready to work with whomever wins second round
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Even as the Kremlin called the French presidential election results a matter for the voters, Russian lawmakers and state-run media didn’t hide their disappointment at Emmanuel Macron’s victory.

Macron won Sunday’s elections because voters were under pressure from the European Union and Germany, Konstantin Kosachyov, head of the International Affairs Committee in Russia’s upper house of parliament, wrote on Facebook. The centrist Macron, who’ll face far right National Front leader Marine Le Pen in a run-off, is the choice of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Putin’s most powerful critic in Europe, according to Alexey Pushkov, a senator from the ruling United Russia party, on his Twitter page.