Media reports say French far-right leader Marine Le Pen on Wednesday backed closer ties between NATO and Russia, adding that if she won the presidency Paris would once again leave the military command of the US-led alliance.
Le Pen, who on April 24 faces President Emmanuel Macron in a run-off, said there should be a "strategic rapprochement" between NATO and Russia once the war launched by Moscow against Ukraine had ended.
“France should return to the status in the alliance that it had from 1966 to 2009,” National Rally candidate said, according to TASS.
"As soon as the Russian-Ukrainian war is over and has been settled by a peace treaty, I will call for the implementation of a strategic rapprochement between NATO and Russia," Le Pen told a news conference packed with international reporters.
Wednesday's press conference just 11 days ahead of the 2022 French presidential runoff was reportedly billed as a major foreign policy address for the far-right candidate who has no prior experience in government or international affairs.
France 24 notes that a Le Pen victory in the April 24 runoff would reverberate through Europe and across the Atlantic, installing a deep eurosceptic in the Élysée presidential palace and someone who had long professed admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin.
