Leader of France's far-right party Front National (FN) Marine Le Pen | EPA/Ian Langsdon Marine Le Pen asked to repay €9 million bank loan: reports The far-right party has been struggling to raise election campaign funds.

French National Front leader Marine Le Pen was told to repay €9 million of a loan from a Russian-based bank, according to media reports.

The Russian Bank Deposit Insurance Agency is calling in part of the loan granted by the First Czech-Russian Bank, which has since been dissolved, Le Monde reports. The National Front is operating thanks to two loans — one for €9 million and one for €2 million — from the bank dating from 2014.

The paper said that in late December, the insurance authority told Russian news agency RNS it had started legal proceedings for reimbursement, without specifying when such moves had begun.

The far-right party has been struggling to raise the €20 million it needs to fund next year's presidential and legislative election campaigns since the Russian-backed bank went under.

Le Pen last month borrowed €6 million from a company owned by her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, that will be used mostly to cover the costs of the presidential campaign.

The news comes as the Ukrainian foreign ministry on Wednesday suggested it would put Le Pen on a blacklist for saying that Russia's annexation of Crimea was legitimate, Reuters reports.

Le Pen on Tuesday told French television that the annexation of the Crimean Peninsula in early 2014 was not illegal because the Crimean people chose to join Russia in a referendum.

The ministry said that Le Pen showed "disrespect” for Ukraine’s sovereignty by “making statements that repeat Kremlin propaganda.”

"In this regard, we remind that such statements and actions in violation of the Ukrainian legislation will necessarily have consequences, as it was in the case of certain French politicians, who are denied entry to Ukraine," a statement said.