Putin, Le Pen and the French right

Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with far-right French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen at the Kremlin in Moscow, March 24, 2017. MIKHAIL KLIMENTYEV/AFP via Getty Images

This article was originally published in French, and first appeared in English at The Conversation. Republished under a Creative Commons license.

Days before the second round of the French presidential election on Sunday, far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen (Rassemblement National, RN) spelled out some of her foreign policy priorities: limit military support to Ukraine and steer clear from voting new sanctions against Russia; leave NATO's integrated command; and relaunch a "strategic rapprochement between NATO and Russia" as soon as peace between Moscow and Kyiv can be secured.