PARIS (Reuters) – Five days before the first round of the French presidential election, Marine Le Pen on Tuesday called for an international UN investigation into alleged war crimes committed by the Russian army in the Ukrainian town of Boutcha , his extreme left opponent Jean-Luc Mélenchon judging this prospect difficult to achieve.
Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky has denounced a “genocide” after the discovery over the weekend in Boutcha, on the outskirts of Kyiv, of hundreds of civilian bodies, some shot at close range and tied up. Russia has denied these accusations and accuses the Kyiv authorities of staging.
“I believe that there must first be an immediate investigation by the UN. (…) In general, the UN must go on the ground to carry out an investigation to determine who are responsible for these crimes. of war”, estimated Marine Le Pen on France Inter.
The candidate of the National Rally (RN), who benefits from a dynamic in the polls allowing her to reduce the gap with outgoing President Emmanuel Macron as the first round approaches, however considers it necessary to maintain “a channel of discussion” with Moscow “to avoid the constitution of a gigantic Sino-Russian power which could represent tomorrow a danger perhaps a hundred times greater for freedom and security in Europe”.
Marine Le Pen, criticized for once close ties with the Kremlin, now defends a diplomatic approach “equidistant” from the United States and Russia.
ZEMMOUR “PRUDENT”
The candidate of La France insoumise (LFI) Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who claims a “non-aligned” geopolitical line and is accused of complacency towards the Russian regime by his opponents on the left, in particular, was moved on Tuesday on RTL by “crimes of war”.
“We are now in killings, these are killings of absolute savagery, people who are killed in cold blood. These are war crimes, it is intolerable!”, He declared.
However, he considers an independent international investigation unlikely.
“The UN can only judge States, the only court that can judge people, neither Russia, nor the United States, nor China have signed the convention that establishes it. It will not be easy to send those responsible there,” he said, implicitly referring to the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Russia and the United States have signed the treaty establishing the ICC but have not ratified it. China has not signed it.
For Eric Zemmour, candidate for “Reconquest!” in the presidential election, you have to be “cautious” when it comes to Boutcha.
“We must be sure that these massacres are the work of Russian troops, if so, it is absolutely horrible and infamous even for the Russian people and the image of Russia”, he said on France 2.
“We have to be careful. (…) There has been a lot of manipulation of images in the past, we have to wait for an international investigation. Massacre of civilians are war crimes and let’s be careful,” he said. -he adds.
He advocated the continuation of Russian-Ukrainian negotiations. “We must find a solution that makes Ukraine neutral so that its security is guaranteed.”
Yannick Jadot, candidate for Europe Ecologie-Les Verts (EELV), estimated on BFM TV and RMC that Russian President Vladimir Poutine had been a “war criminal” for “twenty years”.
ROUSSEL AGAINST A RUSSIAN GAS EMBARGO
“There are terrible atrocities and I think I am the only candidate in this presidential election who has had this consistency vis-à-vis Vladimir Putin,” he pleaded, recalling Chechnya and Syria.
“The only measure that Europeans must take to stop these atrocities is the European embargo on Russian gas,” he reaffirmed.
An objective that the socialist candidate Anne Hidalgo also defends.
“We absolutely have to move forward and of course get gas from Algeria, American gas, and many other solutions to accelerate the ecological transition,” she said on franceinfo.
“I think that we must be able, in the name of ethics, in the name of our own protection as French people and Europeans, to get out of this dependence on Russian gas which today is financing the war in Ukraine”, he said. she added, citing a study by the Economic Analysis Council which concluded that the economic cost of a Russian gas embargo would be “manageable” for France.
The Communist Party candidate, Fabien Roussel, opposed on Europe 1 “decisions which could have harsh and terrible consequences for the purchasing power of the French”.
“To deprive ourselves of Russian gas overnight is to engage the European Union in a serious economic recession,” he said. “I prefer that we go and hit the oligarchs in the wallet.”
(Written by Sophie Louet, edited by Bertrand Boucey)