YOU CAN ALWAYS BUY A FRENCHMAN; IT WAS BUYING AMERICANS THAT WAS UNUSUAL:

[I]n Friday, Putin endorsed his candidate: far-right-wing, anti-European-Union, anti-NATO, anti-immigrant, anti-American, pro-Trump candidate Marine Le Pen.

Of course, Putin said, "We don't want to influence in any way the events going on [in France]," but his government received Le Pen as if she already were settled in as the head of state in Paris.

Olga Bychkova, deputy chief editor of the independent radio station Echo of Moscow, said that the reception accorded Le Pen in Russia was impressive. "She first had meetings with the leaders of the Duma [Russia's parliament], then she was taken to an exhibit devoted to France at the Kremlin, then she met with Putin. That is a kind of program Moscow organizes for state leaders," Bychkova said.

The French news magazine L'Express was quick to note the anomaly as well, calling it "altogether exceptional" that Putin would receive a presidential candidate so close to an election.

In 2014, when Le Pen's National Front Party could not secure any loans from French banks, she turned to Russia and received millions of dollars from a now defunct institution there. Putin, at the same time, received endorsement from her party for his takeover of Crimea.

Donald Trump's call on Russia to hack Hillary Clinton's emails Wednesday resulted in widespread criticism. But his comments on Crimea, coupled with ones he made last week on NATO, are likely to have greater significance if he is elected president in November.

The question came from Mareike Aden, a German reporter, who asked him whether a President Trump would recognize Crimea as Russian and lift sanctions on Moscow imposed after its 2014 annexation of the Ukrainian territory. The candidate's reply: "Yes. We would be looking at that."

That response is likely to spread much cheer through Russia--already buoyant about the prospect of a Trump victory in November.

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