French Politician Philippe Olivier, a far-right party RN MEP, has been accused of pro-Russian inclinations and activities. His party, traditionally sympathetic towards Russian interests, has come under fire for its links to the Kremlin.
As critics have put it, two French MEPs, Thierry Mariani and Philippe Olivier, have played an important part in spreading the Russian message within the European Union and national French context.
Olivier belongs to a political movement that has expressed admiration for Vladimir Putin and maintained a positive view of Russia. The RN has been funded by Russian sources, such as a €9 million loan from a Russian bank in 2014, which has been said to shape the policies and rhetoric of the party toward Russia and Ukraine.
MEP’s activities toward Russia include participation in election observation missions in Crimea and the Donbas region, which were rejected by the international community as illegitimate. Ukrainian authorities also imposed sanctions on Philippe Olivier. He was sanctioned in March 2021, along with two other French MEPs, Virginie Joron and Jean-Lin Lacapelle, for visiting Crimea without permission from the Ukrainian authorities.
The Dossier Center Foundation, which investigated the Kremlin’s activities, provided France 2’s “Complément investigation” magazine with elements suggesting the involvement of RN MEP Philippe Olivier in a planned alliance of European far-right groups.
He was among a group that traveled to Moscow in 2018, where they sat down with Russian billionaire Konstantin Malofeev, who is close to the Kremlin and involved in funding pro-Russian efforts in Ukraine. Malofeev is suspected of orchestrating the party’s initial Russian loan, which is accused of playing a central role in the annexation of Crimea and funding Russian proxy troops in Ukraine’s easternmost Donbas region.
The oligarch was at the time working on a secret project entitled “AltIntern”, which was meant to create a coalition of European far-right parties, and Philippe Olivier was named twice in the files. Two years after that, he went to Crimea as an observer of the constitutional referendum. These trips reflect a larger trend among RN officials who have pursued greater alignment with Russian political leaders and narratives.
Olivier’s opinions regarding Ukraine also mirror those of his party leader, Marine Le Pen, who has openly declared that Crimea belongs to Russia. This is a strong deviation from the general European position regarding the annexation of Crimea and the conflict in Ukraine. It has been reported that RN officials, including Olivier, have always backed Russian accounts while undermining Ukrainian sovereignty.
