Russia Election Hack? French Minister Tells Kremlin Not To Meddle In Its Presidential Race

French Foreign Minister Jena-Marc Ayrault called out the Russian government at a Wednesday press conference, warning France would take care to prevent any tampering by the Kremlin in the French April-May presidential election.

“After what happened in the United States, it is in effect our responsibility to take every measure so that the integrity of our democratic process is respected — that is the wish of the government,” Ayrault said. “We will not accept any interference in our electoral process, no more by Russia than by any other state. It’s a question of our democracy, our sovereignty and our national independence.”

U.S. intelligence agencies determined in December that Russia had intervened in the Nov. 8 U.S. presidential election to aid the victory of President Donald Trump and undermine the U.S. election system, and shared the evidence of the meddling with European governments, including that of France, soon after. Popular French candidate Emmanuel Macron's centrist party accused Russia on Monday of targeting the frontrunner with false news stories, something the Kremlin denied Tuesday.

French voters conduct the first round of balloting for president April 23, followed by a May 7 runoff between the top two candidates. As Ayrault made clear Wednesday, the country would be beefing up its cybersecurity efforts to ensure the only people influencing the outcome are French citizens.

“As not one foreign government can influence the choice of French people, not one foreign government can choose the future president of the republic,” Ayrault said, adding he would be pleased to see candidates who may see themselves as a “preference” of Russia to “revolt against this type of influence.”

One such candidate, far-right National Front leader Marine Le Pen, rejected Moscow’s involvement in the U.S. election, saying there was not “any serious proof.” She has been a vocal supporter of both Putin and Trump, with her niece advocating for a “Trump-Marine-Putin” axis “to fight Islamist terrorism.” She’s also leading in the most recent first-round election polls by a margin of 6.5 percentage points.