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Leading State Duma deputies warned on Monday that the strong
showing of far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen in France's weekend
presidential election should serve as a wake-up call.
They blamed immigration for the rise of the far right in France
and said Russia could face a similar situation if it does not
set strict limits.
At least one politician, Deputy Duma Speaker Vladimir Zhirinovsky
of the ultranationalist Liberal Democratic Party, fired off a
telegram of congratulations. Le Pen, head of the anti-immigration
and anti-globalization National Front party, stunned Europe by
coming in second in the Sunday election, thus making it into a
runoff against incumbent President Jacques Chirac.
"It is very important for us not to repeat the mistakes
of the Europeans," said Dmitry Rogozin, head of the Duma's
foreign affairs committee. "Otherwise, one cannot rule out
that in several years, right or far-right political forces may
come into power in Russia." Deputy Duma Speaker Vladimir
Lukin agreed, saying the main lesson to be drawn from the French
election is that countries including Russia must have a good handle
on demographic and immigration issues.
"In no way does this mean that immigration processes have
to be brought to a halt in our country, but there should be clear
limitations in the policy," Lukin, who is also a co-founder
of the Yabloko party, was quoted by Interfax as saying.
Widespread resentment of illegal immigration from the Caucasus
has already fueled nationalist policies in the southern Krasnodar
region and some other parts of Russia. Skinhead attacks on ethnic
minorities in Moscow and across the country prompted President
Vladimir Putin on Thursday to order legislation to crack down
on extremism. Rogozin said that about half of Russia's estimated
10 million immigrants are illegal and that if the current rate
of immigration continues, Europeans will "disappear as a
nation as we know it" in 15 to 20 years.
Zhirinovsky, who has long counted Le Pen as a friend, told Interfax:
"The future belongs to the right nationalist parties. People
are tired of flabby democracies that generate crime and mass immigration."
"With your iron fist you have shaken up France and made
it wake up from a lethargy inspired by the mystics of globalization
and communist fairytales," he wrote in the telegram.
Aside from Zhirinovsky, lawmakers appeared to agree that Chirac
would win the May 5 runoff. "The tactics of the runoff in
France will be similar to the tactics of one-time runoffs in Russia,
when the choice was between the bad and the very bad," said
Mikhail Margelov, head of the Federation Council's foreign affairs
committee. Margelov played a key role in uniting voters against
the communists during President Boris Yeltsin's re-election bid
in 1996.
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