Will Russia sink Le Pen?

Marine Le Pen has changed her image. Five years ago, the veteran far-right leader lost her second bid for the French presidency to a virtual newcomer, Emmanuel Macron, who swept into office with two-thirds of the vote. This time, she has assured her anxious supporters that things will be different.

She has retired her policy of pulling out of the EU, calling instead for it to transform into a federation of sovereign states. She has also sought to assuage fears she would bring back the Franc. Gone too are calls to end all immigration to France – legal and illegal – preferring instead a comparatively more mellow line about how open borders are causing ‘anarchy‘. Online, she has posted a steady stream of pictures with her six pet cats, pushing a softer, fluffier image than she inherited from her Holocaust-denying father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, the founder of the party she now leads.

There is, however, one association that the aspiring president is struggling to shake off: her longstanding ties to Russia.