Marine..

 

 French far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen, the leader of the National Rally party is taking on incumbent Emmanuel Macron in a runoff election on Sunday that could determine the future direction of Europe.

Pro-European Union centrist Macron is leading in the polls ahead of the vote, but if Le Pen—who has said she would pull France out of NATO's military command and reduce French support for the EU— were to triumph, a different new Europe would become.

Le Pen traveled to Moscow to meet Putin when she was running for the presidency in 2017, received loans from a Russian bank to fund her party and supported Putin's illegal annexation of Crimea.

But she has sought to distance herself from Russia in recent months and has condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

In a March 2017 interview with CBS News, Le Pen called concerns that Putin posed a threat to Europe "a big scam."

Asked if she felt Putin threatened France and other countries, she said: "No, I don't believe it is so. Nothing Vladimir Putin has done would make me reach that conclusion."