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Divisions Open in French Republican Camp Over Pro-Russian, Anti-Daesh Fillon

© REUTERS / Charles PlatiauFrancois Fillon, candidate in Sunday's second round of the French center-right presidential primary elections, members of the conservative Les Republicains political party, delivers a speech during a meeting with deputies in Paris, France, November 22, 2016.
Francois Fillon, candidate in Sunday's second round of the French center-right presidential primary elections, members of the conservative Les Republicains political party, delivers a speech during a meeting with deputies in Paris, France, November 22, 2016. - Sputnik International
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Republican presidential candidate Francois Fillon has incurred the wrath of critics - particularly of rival Alain Juppe - after he called for a "more open minded" attitude towards Russia, saying there is "no choice but to turn to the Russians and the Syrian regime to eradicate Islamic militants."

Right-wing Les Republicains (LR) party's candidate for the party's primary ahead of the 2017 presidential election, Francois Fillon (File) - Sputnik International
France's Fillon Wants Global Coalition Including Russia to Fight Terrorism
Fillon — who stunned pollsters by ousting former President Nicholas Sarkozy and beating the previously tipped ex-PM Juppe in the Republican primary election, November 20 — is seen as the main contender against right-wing Front National leader Marine Le Pen for the 2017 French presidential race. 

Fillon defended his "more open minded" approach to Russia, telling a rally in central France: "[There is] no choice but to turn to the Russians and the Syrian regime to eradicate Islamic militants.

"I hear how the friends of my opponent are criticizing me of a willingness to normalisz our relationship with Russia with more cooperation and honesty. I will let them say what they want, but I will always use whatever means to protect the French but I will cooperate with all countries willing to take down [Daesh]."

Fillon's comments — which represent a new debate within France — are likely to gain support from many who see the incumbent President Francois Hollande as having failed to protect France from the threat of Islamic militants, who were behind the Charlie Hebdo and related attacks of January 2015, the Paris attacks of November 13, 2015 and other terrorist atrocities.

Juppe, on the other hand, follows the line of most other EU member states in supporting the departure of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and backing sanctions on Russia over Ukraine.

Russia, Syria, Britain Breakthrough?

Hollande — who is the most unpopular president in the Fifth republic's history — is highly unlikely to gain any ground in the presidential race because of his unpopularity over the stagnant economy, his attempts to revitalize it by the controversial reform of the French labor code, but — most importantly — because of Islamophobia and the threat from terrorism, which has dominated public opinion.

© AP Photo / Thibault CamusA woman is being evacuated from the Bataclan theater after a shooting in Paris, Friday Nov. 13, 2015.
A woman is being evacuated from the Bataclan theater after a shooting in Paris, Friday Nov. 13, 2015. - Sputnik International
A woman is being evacuated from the Bataclan theater after a shooting in Paris, Friday Nov. 13, 2015.

Fillon was French PM from 2007 to 2012, under President Sarkozy and is seen as an able reformer in the frame of Margaret Thatcher — a center-right, free market, small government politician.

If he were to become French president, not only would his views on Russia and Syria be significant — not least because of EU sanctions against Russia over Ukraine and anti-Assad sentiment within the EU — but his marriage to a Welsh woman, Penelope, could be pivotal in negotiations over Brexit.

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