The main presidential candidates in France have reacted to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The main presidential candidates on Thursday morning condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, calling for diplomatic action and severe targeted sanctions against the Russian regime, even to deliver arms to Kiev. On the right, LR candidate Valérie Pécresse condemned “the war launched by Russia against Ukraine”. “European Union sanctions must be immediate, severe, targeted and coordinated with the United States and the United Kingdom,” she said in a tweet.
In a statement, far-right candidate Eric Zemmour “unreservedly condemned the Russian military intervention”, and called on Emmanuel Macron, “as President Sarkozy did in August 2008 during the Georgian crisis , to travel without delay to Moscow and then to Kiev to negotiate an immediate ceasefire, the establishment of mediation and a peace negotiation”. His rival Marine Le Pen (RN), who had been received during the previous presidential campaign by Vladimir Putin and continues to repay a loan of around 9 million euros to a Russian creditor, had not yet reacted.
Jadot calls for delivering arms to Ukraine
On the left, the LFI candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon wished in a press release “an immediate meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe” (OSCE) and an “emergency” deliberation of the UN to obtain “an immediate ceasefire and a withdrawal of all foreign troops from Ukraine”. The environmental candidate Yannick Jadot pleaded in a press release also for France and the European Union to organize “deliveries of arms so that the Ukrainians can defend themselves and sanctions of an exceptional magnitude against Putin and his accomplices, in banished from the international community”. Socialist candidate Anne Hidalgo “condemned in the strongest terms the brutal attack ordered by Vladimir Putin” and called in a tweet to “react firmly to this unjustified and criminal act”.
“Let us say the words: it is no longer an aggression, an attack, a violation of borders, it is war. It is at this height that France, the European Union, the Council of Europe, the ‘OSCE and the UN must react”, reacted for his part the former Keeper of the Seals and candidate Christiane Taubira on Twitter. Communist candidate Fabien Roussel denounced on France 2 a “declaration of war” by Vladimir Putin and called for “do everything possible to disarm the armies (…), so that it does not go further”.
In the ranks of the deputies, the president of the PS group in the National Assembly Valérie Rabault underlined on Twitter that “Europe has the means to block the Russian banking system and to support Ukraine logistically and militarily”. On the right, the secretary general of LR Aurélien Pradié called on Public Senate to “sanction financially, personally, Vladimir Poutine, his family, all those who gravitate around him”, to “remove visas”, “stop welcoming Russian dignitaries” in France and sanctioning both public and private Russian banks.
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced overnight from Wednesday to Thursday the start of a “military operation” in Ukraine where powerful explosions and air alert sirens sounded in several cities, Kiev claiming that an “invasion of large scale” was in progress. Emmanuel Macron, who called on Moscow to “immediately end its military operations”, has been holding a defense council since 9 a.m. “France stands in solidarity with Ukraine. It stands alongside the Ukrainians and acts with its partners and allies to end the war,” added the head of state in two tweets.
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