Far-right candidate Marine Le Pen, who will face incumbent Emmanuel Macron in the second round of elections next week, said she would propose closer relations between NATO and Russia after the war is over.
In the first round of the presidential election, Marine Le Pen won 23.15 percent of the vote. She will compete for the French presidential seat against Emmanuel Macron, who was supported by 27.85 percent of voters on Sunday.
Le Pen announced Wednesday that she would propose a closer relationship between NATO and Russia after the Russian-Ukrainian war. She also said she did not want France to leave the European Union and added that she would abide by the Paris Agreement on climate change.
The National Unity leader has previously said she supports sanctions against Russia in principle, but not on oil and gas supplies.
Political rivals have criticized Le Pen for her support for Russia and President Vladimir Putin. In an interview for the French television station BFMTV, she was asked about her words stating that "Crimea is Russian."
"Crimea belonged to Ukraine for 26 years. For the rest of the time - it has always been Russian. Citizens wanted it returned to Russia, voila," she commented, not hiding her amusement. She added that she does not know why she is banned from entering Ukraine.
Macron is more careful when choosing words concerning the situation in Ukraine. He does not want to use the word 'genocide' in fear of escalation.
"I want to continue to try as much as possible to stop this war and restore peace," he said in an interview with the public broadcaster, France 2.
Macron was also asked if, like U.S. President Joe Biden, he would use the term "genocide" against the crimes committed by Russian soldiers in Ukraine.
"This will ultimately be decided by lawyers in the international arena, but it seems to me that the horrible things that the Russians have done in Ukraine definitely qualify to be called genocide," the American president said.
In response, the French president said that he "would be careful with such terms, because the two nations (Russians and Ukrainians - ed.) are brothers. "I'm not sure that the escalating rhetoric contributes to that," he added. "We can say for sure that the situation is unacceptable and that war crimes are taking place. We see war crimes unprecedented on our soil - on European soil," he stressed.
"Russia unilaterally started an extremely brutal war and today we have established that the Russian army committed war crimes. We must hold the guilty accountable," he added.
Macron is currently seeking re-election. He will face National Unity presidential candidate Marine Le Pen in the second round of the presidential election. Polls indicate that he is the favorite for the second round.
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