The shock decision of the French President Emmanuel Macron to call early parliamentary elections after his party’s crushing defeat in the European elections, as well as the success of the far-right, made headlines.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov in his regular briefing was clear that Russia is monitoring developments in France.

“Despite the fact that, so far, the pro-European parties maintain their leading position, over time the right-wing parties will snap at their heels,” Peskov said.

With Emmanuel Macron recently spearheading the initiative to deploy Western forces in Ukraine, it is not surprising that Russia enthusiastically welcomed this decision of the French president to call elections.

Former President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev stated that the results reflect, in part, the “inappropriate policy” of both leaders to support Ukraine in the war with Russia.

“Time to retire. Into the ashes of history!”Medvedev said on the social networking platform X.

THE head of the State Duma of Russia Vyacheslav Volodin wrote on Telegram that “Macron and Scholz cling to power with their last remaining strength,” thereby missing the opportunity to also hit German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, whose Socialists came third behind the AfD.

“The right thing would be for them to resign and stop making fun of their citizens,” said Volodin, who has presided over the lower house of the Russian parliament since 2016.

According to Volodin, the results of the elections in both France and Germany did not come as a surprise, given that as he said “the economy is stagnant, there is a migration crisis and countries are engaged in a war in Ukraine against their own national interests.”

Pro-Russian analyst Sergei Markov similarly linked the outcome in France to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

“I hope Macron understands that the French reject him because he is fomenting war against Russia in Ukraine,” quipped Markov, a former Kremlin adviser. “But he may choose to escalate and start a NATO war with Russia” he added.

From his side the Russian state news agency TASS concluded that European citizens “they expressed themselves against the course followed by Brussels, but they will not be heard”.

Under Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission will continue to receive “anti-popular measures”, such as EU accession talks with Ukraine, and to seek new ways to impose sanctions on Russia, the TASS article added.

“Parties opposed to Russia sanctions rise in EU elections”propagandist media platform RT wrote on Monday, noting that Macron’s political rival Marine Le Pen is against using Western weapons in Ukraine to strike on Russian soil and has spoken out against sanctions.

In an ominous tone, Reibar, a prominent military blogger with more than a million followers on Telegram, warned far-right parties in Europe that they would face “a new round of repression and pressure”.

“Some, in the context of growing resentment of support for the so-called Ukraine, will be accused of sympathizing with Russia and some will be prosecuted,” Reibar wrote, referring to the recent Russiagate scandal involving far-right politicians in Germany.

In some places the tone was slightly more subdued. “There has been no revolution”, the think tank Russia in Global Affairs, which advises the Kremlin on foreign policy, wrote on Telegram.

But he added that “Macron put the Ukrainian issue and the promise to intervene militarily at the center of his campaign… The results show that this has failed to excite voters.”