Russian politicians gleefully commented on heavy defeats for parties of French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in the European Parliament elections, reports Reuters and News.bg.
The Kremlin noted that right-wing parties are on the rise in Europe.
Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said the results partly reflected "inept politics" of the two leaders to support Ukraine in the war with Russia.
"Time to retire. To the ash heap of history!", he wrote on the X social network.
Well, well, respected by no one Macron and Scholtz, have you seen the EU parliament election results? They come as a reflection of your inept policy of providing support to the bandera authorities in the f. Ukraine at the expense of your own citizens, your idiotic economy and…
— Dmitry Medvedev (@MedvedevRussiaE) June 10, 2024
Valentina Matviyenko, the speaker of the upper house of the Russian parliament, pointed out that Macron and Scholz have "suffered a crushing defeat with their parties, which once again confirms their failure as national and European politicians".
"Moreover, in their case it is a deserved result resulting from many years of complete disregard for the real needs of people and society", she wrote in "Telegram".
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Russia has long courted leaders of Europe's political right, such as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and France's Marine Le Pen, and is trying to exploit any signs of division in Europe that could weaken support for Ukraine .
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that after the European elections, the majority in the European Parliament will still be pro-EU and pro-Ukraine, but the rise of right-wing parties is clear.
"This dynamic can be seen with the naked eye and, of course, despite the fact that pro-Europeans retain their leadership positions for now, after a while the right-wing parties will be breathing down their necks, he pointed out and added that Russia closely monitors these processes.
In France, Macron called early parliamentary elections, with the first round to be held on June 30. This move was reached after his centrist party "Revival" won less than half of the share of the "National Assembly" of Le Pen in the euro vote.
Peskov noted that Russia will closely monitor the early vote, "especially taking into account, say, the extremely unfriendly and even hostile attitude of the French leadership towards our country.
Macron has irritated Russia with a series of statements in recent weeks, including the idea of sending European troops to help Ukraine in the war.
Ahead of the last French presidential election in 2022, Macron accused his rival Le Pen of being "addicted" by Russia and Putin, and pointed to a loan her party received from a Czech-Russian bank.
Le Pen met with Putin in the Kremlin in 2017. However, after the start of the war in Ukraine, she condemned the invasion of Russian forces and tried to downplay previous comments in which she expressed admiration for the Russian leader.