Marine Le Pen estimated, Friday April 8 on franceinfo, “to have a reasonable position” vis-à-vis Russia and Vladimir Putin. Criticized for her closeness to the Russian leader, the National Rally candidate wanted to clarify her position which “was to condemn Russia when it invaded Ukraine in the clearest possible way”. For her, what is happening in Ukraine “isn’t all black or all white” but she refrained from turning a blind eye to the Russian invasion. “This armed aggression was inadmissible under international law and we voted in the European Parliament for an extremely firm condemnation of this Russian aggression”she reiterated, the same way she said “yes” to penalties.
However, Marine Le Pen reiterated her opposition to an embargo on Russian imports. “The only thing I do not want are sanctions on raw materials which will have serious consequences for the French and the rest of the world”she said, as the European Parliament adopted an overwhelming majority on Thursday, a resolution calling for an embargo “total and immediate” on imports “oil, coal, nuclear fuel and gas” Russians. The candidate of the National Rally assured to be “against anything that can multiply the bill of the French by four five or six”reaffirming its objective “to primarily defend the French and their purchasing power”.
“The sanctions are used to put pressure on Russia and obtain the return of peace, not to cause hara-kiri”.
Marine Le Penat franceinfo
It is not a matter “to create the conditions for very great violence against our compatriots”, she added, while saying that she was convinced that this would not make it possible to really reach Russia. The consequence, according to her, of such an embargo would be to leave Russia, “the first country producing raw materials in the world, partner with China, the largest factory in the world”. Marine le Pen warned about “the power” that would come out of this coalition that “would be a major problem for France”.
Asked about her comments regarding Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014, she recalled that she had only “said there had been a referendum” and that Crimea “has only been Ukrainian for 27 years in its entire history”. “Perhaps” that this referendum was not recognized by the international community, she half-acknowledged “but no one left Crimea to ask for the right of asylum”, she justified herself.
“Emmanuel Macron received Mr. Poutine in Brégançon three years later [l’annexion de la Crimée]it didn’t seem to bother him and he made comments that were reasonable comments”noted Marine Le Pen who thus denounced the fact “that we seek to demonize it”. According to her, she has “defended at the time what all the Presidents of the French Republic defended during their term of office” in a desire to “not to make Russia a pariah in Europe, to reattach it” to the old continent.