MOSCOW (Sputnik) — With most of the votes counted, Marine Le Pen received 21.43 percent in the first round of the election held Sunday, while the "En Marche!" movement founder Emmanuel Macron came first with 23.86 percent, according to the preliminary results, published by the French Interior Ministry.
The second round of election is slated for May 7.
"I hope that the new president of France who will be elected in the second round will demonstrate constructive approaches to the settlement of the internal conflict in southeastern Ukraine, will be able to objectively and without prejudice assess its real causes, will realistically approach the ways of its settlement," Gryzlov told reporters, commenting on the results of the first round of presidential election in France.
In February 2015, Kiev forces and Donbass independence supporters signed a peace agreement in the Belarusian capital of Minsk. The deal stipulates a full ceasefire, weapons withdrawal from the line of contact in Donbass, as well as constitutional reforms that would give a special status to the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics. Despite the agreement brokered by the Normandy Four states (Russia, France, Germany and Ukraine), the ceasefire regime is regularly violated, with both sides accusing each other of multiple breaches, undermining the terms of the accord.
