French Presidential Hopeful Marine Le Pen Says Waging 'Cold War' Against Putin is 'Mistake'

The candidate from the party National Rally previously alleged that France not having as much international clout as it could is partly due to having a poor relationship with Russia. She insisted that ties between them should be as close as those with the US.

French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen has criticised the current government's approach to relations with Russia in an interview with the BBC, arguing that waging a "cold war" against President Vladimir Putin is a step in the wrong direction.

"There are no friends in the field of geopolitics, there are allies. So we have allies, and I think it's a mistake to wage such a cold war against Russian President Vladimir Putin, pushing him closer to China and creating something like a new empire that is not in the interests of European countries".

Marine Le Pen

French Presidential Candidate

Le Pen suggested that instead of confrontation, Paris should have normal diplomatic relations with Moscow, as well as cooperation in other areas – such as culture and economy. The presidential hopeful from the party National Rally noted, however, that France should maintain some distance in relations with both the US and Russia.

She went on to allege that the current tensions between the West and Russia over Ukraine have been partly prompted by US President Joe Biden's weak political position. Le Pen suggested that US leaders often start looking for an enemy or, in the absence of one, creating it, when they feel "weak".

"Now we are seeing how the United States is pushing Ukraine towards the idea of ​​joining NATO so that it can deploy military forces. Thus, Russia in response is pulling troops to their borders with Ukraine. This is something like psychological warfare, containment actions that I would like to avoid".

Marine Le Pen

French Presidential Candidate

In an earlier interview with the channel France 2, Le Pen alleged that France's political clout on the international stage is not as strong as it could be possibly due to the country's poor relations with Russia. She suggested that Paris should have equally good ties with both Washington and Moscow.

The National Rally candidate, who lost her last bid for the presidency with 33% in the runoff stage in 2017, also promised to withdraw France from NATO if she is elected president in the April 2022 elections. Le Pen argued that this was needed in order to defend the country's interests freely and not to be dragged into foreign conflicts.

Le Pen's statements come at a time of heightened tensions between NATO and Russia as the former has repeatedly alleged over the past few months that Moscow might be planning an "invasion" of Ukraine citing a purported increase in Russian troops along the border. The Kremlin has on multiple occasions denied these claims and rejected criticism of its troop deployments. Moscow also pointed out the ever-increasing presence of NATO military forces near Russia's western borders.