Putin’s Fake-News Websites Use Homophobia to Help Le Pen in French Election

Andrew Rettman of the EU Observer writes:

RT Francais, a Kremlin-funded news agency, reported on Friday that Russia could help Le Pen to defend French people against terrorists and migrants.

A pro-Kremlin French-language website, called CrossCheck, also endorsed her anti-immigrant rhetoric by publishing a fake story in February that a north African man had attacked a French priest and that French media had hushed it up.

Other French-language Russian media sources have spread unsubstantiated claims that Le Pen’s pro-EU rival, Emmanuel Macron, had had a gay love affair and that he was controlled either by US banks or by Saudi Arabia.