Suspected Russian cyberattacks on the French presidential campaign are “unacceptable”, France’s foreign minister said Sunday, adding it was clear that pro-Europe candidate Emmanuel Macron was being targeted. A spokesman for Macron, who is currently riding high in the polls, has accused Moscow of being behind a flurry of cyberattacks on his campaign website and email servers over the past month. “It’s enough to see which candidates, Marine Le Pen or Francois Fillon, Russia expresses preference for in the French electoral campaign,” Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said in an interview with Journal du Dimanche. “Whereas Emmanuel Macron, who is pro-Europe, is being targeted by cyberattacks,” he added. “This form of interference in French democratic life is unacceptable and I denounce it.”
Le Pen, of the far-right National Front, is anti-immigration and anti-European Union, while Fillon is the conservative Republicans candidate who is pushing for closer ties with Moscow.
“Russia is the first to say that non-interference in domestic affairs is a cardinal rule and I understand that. Well, France won’t accept its choices being dictated to it either,” he added.
France warned Russia Wednesday against meddling in the elections, after a spokesman for Macron — the 39-year-old centrist former economy minister — pointed the finger of blame at Moscow.
Full Article: France denounces cyberattacks blamed on Moscow.