Disappointment as Russian favorites lag in French race

Bloomberg

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.
“Everyone understands that European unity is at stake,” Oleg Morozov, a former senior Kremlin official who’s now a member of the international affairs committee in the upper house, said by phone. “All forces including the European Union will work for Macron to win” by mobilizing votes against the anti-euro Le Pen, he said. Many Russian officials regard Macron as the candidate most hostile to their country’s interests, while President Vladimir Putin held Kremlin talks with Le Pen last month in an unprecedented meeting with a French presidential contender. She openly backs Putin’s 2014 annexation of Crimea that along with the covert Russian military intervention in eastern Ukraine prompted the EU to impose sanctions. Macron, a 39-year-old independent, supports the sanctions and has accused Russia of cyber-attacks against his campaign.

‘Bohemian’ Victory
Russian state-run First Channel TV reported on Monday that Macron celebrated with aides after his victory at a “bohemian restaurant” where “oysters and duck are on the menu,” while Le Pen positioned herself as the “candidate from the people.” Even as votes were being counted, Russian state TV presenter Dmitry Kiselyov argued on his flagship on Sunday program that the entire French state machine was working against Macron’s rivals.