Marine Le Pen, leader of France’s far-right National Rally (RN) party, has outlined potential pro-Russian changes to France’s Ukraine policy if her party gains power in Sunday’s parliamentary elections.
A potential National Rally victory could be welcomed by Russia, given Le Pen’s past admiration for the Russian leader Vladimir Putin and her refusal to condemn Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014.
In an interview with CNN, Le Pen vowed that a prime minister from her party would prevent Kyiv from using French-supplied long-range weapons to strike inside Russia and would oppose French President Emmanuel Macron’s suggestion of the possibility of sending French troops to Ukrainian soil.
Le Pen claimed,
“If Emmanuel Macron wants to send troops to Ukraine and the prime minister is against it, then there are no troops sent to Ukraine. The prime minister has the final say.”
Polls suggest that National Rally may hold the largest share of the 577 seats in France’s National Assembly after the election, potentially leading to Macron offering them the chance to choose the country’s next prime minister. This could result in a tense “cohabitation” between Macron’s centrist presidency and a far-right government, especially regarding French support for Ukraine.
Le Pen claimed that her only “red line” on Ukraine was preventing France from somehow becoming a “co-belligerent” in the conflict through the use of long-range French missiles against targets on Russian soil. This stance contrasts with Macron’s position, as he was one of the first leaders to publicly allow Ukraine to strike targets inside Russia with Western weapons.
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