Allies of French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday sought to cast the country's far-right forces as bedfellows of the Kremlin as the centrist alliance launched its campaign for European Parliament elections.
Speaking in the northern city of Lille, 34-year-old Prime Minister Gabriel Attal lambasted the far-right National Rally (RN), which leads Macron's alliance by a wide margin ahead of the June elections, and accused them of betraying the interests of France and Europe.
"They have always said 'no' to Europe," France's youngest prime minister said.
"The only difference now is that they are hiding it a little and the 'no' has turned into a 'nyet'," Attal said, accusing Marine Le Pen's party of flirting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
Edouard Philippe, Macron's former prime minister and leader of the Horizons party, warned about the risks of appeasement, citing British statesman Winston Churchill to castigate those who are feeding "a crocodile" hoping it will eat them "last".
Macron, who plans to join the campaign at a later stage, has asked his ministers to fight the RN "every step of the way" as he tries to curb the rapid rise of the far right.
In France's polarised political landscape, Russia's war against Ukraine has emerged as a major hot-button topic.
Macron has been seeking to hammer home the importance of greater support for Ukraine and last week caused an uproar by refusing to rule out the dispatch of Western ground troops to the ex-Soviet country.
In an apparent response to Macron, Putin has warned of a "real" risk of nuclear war.
The European elections are seen as a key milestone ahead of France's next presidential election in 2027, when Le Pen is expected to mount a fourth bid for the top job and Macron cannot stand again due to term limits.
Macron has picked Valerie Hayer, the 37-year-old head of the Renew group in the European Parliament, to lead his camp in the polls.
A daughter of French farmers, Hayer is relatively unknown to the public.
Speaking in Lille, she also attacked the RN and said her camp's responsibility was to thwart "this worst-case scenario".
"In this campaign we will be the only ones to defend Europe," she said.
"In three months, we will face a choice: act or suffer, strengthen our Europe or give up in the face of those who want to tear it down," Hayer added.
The head of the National Rally's list for the European elections is 28-year-old Jordan Bardella, a rising star of far-right French politics.
Last weekend Bardella hammered on the far right's central theme of immigration when the party launched its election campaign in the southern port of Marseille.
Members of the opposition have accused the president of using the conflict to boost his coalition's standing ahead of the European elections.
Earlier this week, Bardella described Macron's stance on Ukraine as "no limits and no red lines".
He said he had pleaded with the French leader "not to go to war with Russia".
Some in Macron's camp have questioned the focus on Ukraine and the far right.
A lawmaker with the centrist MoDem party, which is part of Macron's coalition, said that targeting the far-right forces could backfire by further raising their profile.
