Marine Le Pen vows to stop Ukraine from using French weapons in Russia if far-right wins French elections

Marine Le Pen, leader of France’s far-right National Rally (RN) party, has outlined potential pro-Russian changes to France’s policy toward Ukraine if her party comes to power in Sunday’s parliamentary elections.

A possible victory for the National Rally could be welcomed by Russia, given Le Pen’s past admiration for Russian leader Vladimir Putin and his refusal to condemn Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea.

In an interview with CNN, Le Pen promised that a prime minister from her party would prevent kyiv from using long-range weapons supplied by France to strike inside Russia and would oppose French President Emmanuel Macron’s suggestion that French troops be sent onto Ukrainian soil.

Le Pen said,

“If Emmanuel Macron wants to send troops to Ukraine and the Prime Minister is against it, then there will be no sending of troops to Ukraine. The Prime Minister has the final say.”

Polls suggest that the National Rally could hold the largest share of the 577 seats in France’s National Assembly after the election, which could lead Macron to offer it the chance to choose the country’s next prime minister. That could lead to a tense “cohabitation” between Macron’s centrist presidency and a far-right government, particularly over French support for Ukraine.

Marine Le Pen has said her only “red line” on Ukraine is to prevent France from somehow becoming a “co-belligerent” in the conflict by using French long-range missiles against targets on Russian soil. This position contrasts with that of Macron, who was one of the first leaders to publicly authorize Ukraine to strike targets in Russia with Western weapons.

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