Le Pen Shouldn't Count On Putin's Money

The 11 million ($11.5 million) euro in loans the French National Front took from a Russian bank is to date the most solid bit of proof that Russia is backing nationalist populist political forces in Europe with more than just talk on Kremlin propaganda channels and invitations for meetings in Moscow. The Russian government, however, appears to want its money back -- and that drives home a hard reality for National Front leader Marine Le Pen: The Kremlin loves the Western nationalists, but it's a tougher kind of love than Western Communists got from the Soviet Union.

The two loans came in 2014 from the First Czech Russian Bank (FCRB), a small private lender in Moscow. The deal was reportedly brokered by Russian legislator Alexander Babakov, a businessman whose interests in Ukraine suffered after the country's "Revolution of Dignity" that year. They saved Le Pen's party, which is in perpetual dire straits. In 2013, the last year for which official data are available, the party spent 10 million euros ($10.5 million), of which only 2.8 million euros came from private donations. Even with 5.5 million in government support, the National Front spent 650,000 euros more than it raised. That year, a loan from the microparty Cotelec run by Le Pen's father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, helped keep the National Front afloat. But 2014 was a European Parliament election year, and without the Russian funding, Le Pen's political force couldn't have won a plurality, which set up the party leader as a major contender for the presidency.