How France's far-right RN party sought to hide its links to Russia during probe by MPs
This week the publication of a Parliamentary inquiry into foreign interference in France will reveal the close ties between Marine Le Pen's far-right Rassemblement National (RN) and the Russian regime of Vladimir Putin. The party, formerly known as the Front National, was itself responsible for this investigation and chaired the inquiry; on the surface this looks like an attempt at transparency. In reality, it was simply a ploy to try to clear its name, though the party is still furious over the contents of the final report, parts of which have been leaked. Mediapart spent many hours following the hearings conducted by the committee. Here Matthieu Suc and Marine Turchi report on a process that became a charade.
HeHe is a senior civil servant who is accustomed to taking part in Parliamentary hearings. On this occasion he had just given evidence behind closed doors to the Parliamentary committee of inquiry looking into potential foreign interference in French public life. Mediapart was trying to get him to reveal what he had said – perhaps revealed – during the hearing when he abruptly dashed our hopes. “It was uninteresting!” he declared. “Between you and me, I was very surprised by the level of questions that were put to me. They were pretty crass.”
