The French far-right party National Rally has been employing a former Russian model, Tamara Volokhova, who has both French and Russian passports, and was reported as an alleged Kremlin’s “agent of influence”.
Marine Le Pen’s party, known for its pro-Russian and anti-Ukrainian stances, is under fire over an alleged Russian ‘agent of influence’ who is now an adviser to the RN, as it hopes to seal a victory in the snap parliamentary election and form the next French government.
Tamara Volokhova, a former Russian model, RN’s security adviser
Tamara Volokhova is causing the far-right party special embarrassment because the party has vowed to ban dual-national individuals from key positions in public service if it comes to power, The Telegraph reported.
During a live TV debate a few days before the elections, the RN leader, Jordan Bardella, the would-be prime minister from RN, declared: “Would you put a Franco-Russian in charge of a nuclear power plant? Don’t you think that’s a subject of national interest?”
Gabriel Attal, the incumbent French prime minister, from President Macron’s political group, responded by naming Ms. Volokhova, a Moscow model turned security adviser to the French far-right party in the European Parliament and former personal assistant to Marine Le Pen, who met Russian dictator Putin in Moscow in the past.
Volokhova was identified as a suspected Russia’s “agent of influence”
Ms. Volokhova received a French passport in 2020 despite a leaked report from the DGSI, France’s intelligence service, that identified her as a suspected “agent of influence” working for the Russian government, Mediapart wrote.
Gabriel Attal told Bardella: “It turns out that she is Franco-Russian and that she attends closed-door meetings with confidential information on the war in Ukraine.”
Volokhova, who is regularly employed as a model, appears particularly financially comfortable for a young woman barely of age and remains “very mysterious about her origins and family” to her classmates and teachers, as described in an investigation by La Tribune.
In 2012, she obtained an internship at the European Audiovisual Observatory before joining the European Parliament’s Communications Directorate. She then went on to work for the far-right group in the European Parliament, on which Philippe de Villiers sat, before being recruited as a parliamentary assistant in 2014 by Front National MEP and pro-Russian politician Aymeric Chauprade. This recruitment intrigued the DGSI, as it took place against a backdrop of strong lobbying by Moscow in Europe following the annexation of Crimea.
In her new role, Tamara Volokhova arranges some of Aymeric Chauprade’s travels, who was also visible in Babakov’s email leaks, and accompanies several MEPs on trips to Russia and Crimea.
At the same time, the collaborator was, according to the DGSI, “in contact with Alexeï Kovalski”, then political advisor to the Russian ambassador in Paris. Alexeï Kovalski was present in the delegation of Russian parliamentarians invited to the Front National congress in 2014, the year the Russian loans were obtained. He was also the cornerstone of a project to twin the frontist town of Hénin-Beaumont with a Russian commune.
The French services consider that his position as political advisor at the embassy was merely a cover, and that he was above all… a spy “for the SVR”, the Russian foreign intelligence service. In its memo, moreover, the DGSI makes no mention of his official position within the diplomatic representation, preferring to describe him as an “SVR officer”. In any case, the French intelligence service writes in black and white in a note that Tamara Volokhova, an RN executive, was seeing a Russian spy, Mediapart reported.
RN wants to ban dual-nationals from taking key positions in public service
Earlier in 2024, the RN candidate in the last presidential election, Marine Le Pen, published a proposed law that would ban dual-nationals from taking a wide range of positions across the public service in France.
Such bills could now be enshrined if the RN, which is leading opinion polls using anti-migrant rhetoric, among others, ends up with an absolute majority in the National Assembly following the snap elections.
Gérald Darmanin, the French interior minister, stated that the RN’s proposed policy was discriminatory and would “divide the nation.” “I don’t like this way of filtering the French,” he said, adding that it would discredit “three million French-Americans, French-Algerians, French-Portuguese, and French-Moroccans.”
Le Pen’s relations with the Kremlin
For her support of the Kremlin’s policies, such as Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea and Russian narratives about “Nazis in Ukraine,” Marine Le Pen, who paid a personal visit to Putin in Moscow in 2017, has long faced criticism.
Her far-right party, National Front (now National Rally), received a €6 million loan from a Russian bank in 2014, which has since been paid back.
In 2022, Ms. Le Pen responded to claims that the RN was closely associated with the Moscow regime by stating, “I have no friendship with Vladimir Putin, whom I have met once in my life.” I don’t even have financial ties with him.”
Marine Le Pen’s letters to Babakov, Putin’s ally
The recent leak of data from the hacked emails of Putin’s henchman, Alexander Babakov, published by InformNapalm, shed light on the Kremlin’s efforts to promote its interests in France and its ties to French politicians, primarily Marine Le Pen.
Since 2012, Alexandr Babakov has been Vladimir Putin’s “special representative” in charge of relations with Russian organizations abroad, making him one of the key men in the Kremlin’s networks of influence in Europe.
According to Babakov’s correspondence, it turns out that he was responsible for organizing visits by French politicians and negotiations with high-ranking Russian officials. In 2014, Babakov was a key figure in the talks between Le Pen’s National Front and the Kremlin on the Russian loan to the French far-right party.
This information was discovered in 2017 during a journalistic investigation by French media outlet Mediapart. And now, leaked Babakov emails have added more exciting details, as well as a hot link between Le Pen and Babakov himself.
In her letter, seen in the leaked emails, the French far-right leader Marine Le Pen is writing to Mr. Babakov, asking for assistance. Le Pen, as a member of the European Parliament, requests a meeting with Sergei Naryshkin, one of Putin’s closest allies and the current Russian spy chief.
Serguei Naryshkin has been the director of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service since 2016. Previously, he was Chairman of the State Duma (2011–2016) and Kremlin Chief of Staff. He was also chairman of the Historical Truth Commission (a propaganda institution tasked with twisting history in the books to please the regime).
Naryshkin studied at the KGB’s Moscow Higher School for two years in the French section. The US and the UK sanctioned him in 2014 due to Moscow’s annexation of Crimea and the Russo-Ukrainian War. Apparently, Marine Le Pen had topics to discuss with Naryshkin.
Aleksandr Babakov arranged a meeting for Le Pen with senior Kremlin officials and Putin. He also sent Marine Le Pen an official invitation letter.