“I cannot continue my participation in the boards of Russian companies Zarubeshneft and Sibur”, he explains. In a grandstand at Sunday newspaper, former Prime Minister François Fillon announces that he will leave the boards of directors of Sibur, the Russian petrochemical giant, and Zarubeshneft, a company specializing in the development and exploitation of hydrocarbon deposits. The former head of government was criticized in France for his presence in Russian companies, while Russian President Vladimir Putin decided Thursday to intervene militarily in Ukraine.
“Today, war is back in the heart of Europe. It’s a collective failure but in the hierarchy of responsibilities, Vladimir Putin is the only culprit for having started a conflict which could have, which should have been avoiddeclares François Fillon in the JDD. In foreign policy, we have to deal with realities. Depending on the interests of France and those of the country’s security.”
“It is a decision that honors him. “A comment opposite to what she had been answering for 72 hours on this subject:” He left politics, he has the right to make a living, we must leave him alone. » https://t.co/k5sSWK4Ydv
— Julien Nény (@JulienNeny) February 25, 2022
According to information from France Télévisions, Valérie Pécresse and François Fillon spoke on the phone Friday at the end of the afternoon, on the sidelines of his trip to Normandy. The LR candidate for the presidential election “greet” this decision which “honored” the former Prime Minister, according to her.
Francois Fillon had joined in December 2021 the board of directors of the Russian petrochemical giant Sibur, notably controlled by Leonid Mikhelson, one of the richest men in Russia, and Gennady Timchenko, a close friend of President Vladimir Putin, and targeted by recent UK sanctions.
A few months earlier, in June 2021, he had joined the same body of Zarubezhneft, a company specializing in the development and exploitation of hydrocarbon deposits, particularly abroad, owned by the Russian state.