Le Pen: France Excluded Itself From Negotiations on Syria Peace Process

It was France that did not want to get involved in the negotiations on Syria's reconciliation, and not otherwise, Marine Le Pen, the leader of France's right-wing National Front (FN) party, said on Monday.

PARIS (Sputnik) — Later in the day, Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit the French capital at the invitation of his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron and will discuss a number of bilateral and international issues, including the Syrian conflict.

"It's France that excluded itself from the negotiations [on Syria with Russia, Turkey and Iran]. We saw France got involved in an irresponsible manner in the chaos in Libya, saw a chaos, now in Syria, and it's France that refused to negotiate with Syria and sit down with Russia," Le Pen told the RTL broadcaster.

The politician added that "coordination and cooperation" were needed to tackle the "gigantic threat" caused by the conflicts in the Middle East.

In 2015, then-French President Francois Hollande visited Moscow and held a meeting with Putin, agreeing to fight together against common threats such as terrorism and to increase coordination in the fight against Daesh in Syria. At the same time, French authorities refused to support Damascus and called for political transition in the Middle Eastern state.

France has also made a number of moves with regard to Syria that have been criticized by both Moscow and Damascus, such as the making of an attempt to put the blame for chemical attacks in the Middle Eastern state on Syrian authorities via a resolution of the UN Security Council.

Russia made a number of diplomatic efforts to settle the Syrian conflict, including via cooperation with other countries, such as the United States and through mediating the intra-Syria talks in Astana.