Macron attacks Le Pen over her links to Russia as vote looms

By JOHN LEICESTER and SYLVIE CORBET
Associated Press

PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron has strongly attacked his far-right election challenger, Marine Le Pen, for her links to Russia in a televised debate. He claimed Wednesday that by taking out a loan from a Russian bank she made herself dependent on Russian power. In an extraordinary assault on Le Pen’s credentials to run France, the French leader described Russia as “your banker,” referring to a bank loan her party took out in 2014 from a Russian-Czech bank. Le Pen bristled at Macron’s suggestion that she is in the Kremlin’s pocket, describing herself as “totally free.” Macron is leading in the polls ahead of Sunday’s runoff vote.