France's Le Pen warns against sending weapons to Ukraine; Germany irritated by snub of a presidential visit

She also confirmed that if she unseats President Emmanuel Macron in France's April 24 presidential runoff, she will pull France out of NATO's military command.
French far-right leader Marine Le Pen leaves after a press conference in Paris, Wednesday, April 13, 2022. (Photo | AP)
French far-right leader Marine Le Pen leaves after a press conference in Paris, Wednesday, April 13, 2022. (Photo | AP)

PARIS: French far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen warned Wednesday against sending any more weapons to Ukraine, and called for a rapprochement between NATO and Russia once Moscow's war in Ukraine winds down.

Le Pen, an outspoken nationalist who has long ties to Russia, also confirmed that if she unseats President Emmanuel Macron in France's April 24 presidential runoff, she will pull France out of NATO's military command and dial back French support for the whole European Union.

Macron, a pro-EU centrist, is facing a harder-than-expected fight to stay in power, in part because the economic impact of the war is hitting poor households the hardest.

France's European partners are worried that a possible Le Pen presidency could undermine Western unity as the U.S. and Europe seek to support Ukraine and end Russia's ruinous war on its neighbor.

Asked about military aid to Ukraine, Le Pen said she would continue defense and intelligence support.

"(But) I'm more reserved about direct arms deliveries. Why? Because the line is thin between aid and becoming a co-belligerent," the far-right leader said, citing concerns about an "escalation of this conflict that could bring a whole number of countries into a military commitment."

Earlier Wednesday, French government spokesman Gabriel Attal said France had sent 100 million euros ($109 million) worth of weapons to Ukraine in recent weeks as part of a flow of Western arms.

Earlier in his term, Macron had tried to reach out to Russian President Vladimir Putin to improve Russia's relations with the West, and Macron met with Putin weeks before the Russian invasion in an unsuccessful effort to prevent it.

Since then, however, France has supported EU sanctions against Moscow and has offered sustained support to Ukraine.

Le Pen also said France should strike a more independent path from the U.S.-led NATO military alliance.

And despite the atrocities that Russian troops have committed in Ukraine, Le Pen said that NATO should seek a "strategic rapprochement" with Russia once the war is over.

Such a relationship would be "in the interest of France and Europe and I think even of the United States," she said, to stop Russia from forging a stronger alliance with world power China.

She did not directly address the horrors unfolding in Ukraine.

Le Pen was speaking at a press conference Wednesday to lay out her foreign policy plans, which include halting aid to African countries unless they take back "undesirable" migrants seeking entry to France.

She also wants to slash support for international efforts to improve women's reproductive health in poor countries, increase minority rights or solve environmental problems.

At the end of the event, protesters held up a poster showing a 2017 meeting between Le Pen and Putin.

One activist was pulled out of the room.

Anti-racism protesters also held a small demonstration outside.

"The election of Madame Le Pen would mean electing an admirer of Putin's regime, an autocratic regime and an admirer of Putin's imperialistic logic," said Dominique Sopo, head of the group SOS Racism.

"It would mean that France would become a vassal to Putin's Russia."

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Wednesday criticized a diplomatic snub by Ukraine for his country's president and defended Berlin's record on delivering weapons to Kyiv amid tensions that have flared at a delicate moment in German policymaking on the war.

President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Germany's largely ceremonial head of state, had hoped to travel to Ukraine on Wednesday with his Polish and Baltic counterparts.

But he said Tuesday that his presence "apparently, wasn't wanted in Kyiv."

The German newspaper Bild quoted an unidentified Ukrainian diplomat as saying that Steinmeier was not welcome at the moment, pointing to his close relations with Russia in the past.

Ukraine's ambassador to Germany later said the government would be glad to welcome Scholz, who, unlike Steinmeier, sets government policy.

But the snub to Steinmeier may make that more difficult.

"The president would have liked to go to Ukraine," Scholz told rbb24 Inforadio, noting that Steinmeier is Germany's head of state and was recently reelected with broad support.

"So it would have been good to receive him."

"It is, in any case, somewhat irritating, to put it politely," Scholz added, noting that Steinmeier has strongly criticized Russia's war and called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to withdraw his troops from Ukraine.

The flap comes amid a discussion within Scholz's governing coalition about whether Germany should authorize sending heavy weapons such as tanks to Ukraine as that nation prepares to face a stepped-up Russian offensive in the east.

Germany broke with tradition after Russia's invasion to supply arms to Ukraine but has faced criticism from Kyiv for perceived hesitancy and slowness in providing material.

A Ukrainian presidential advisor, Oleksiy Arestovych, told Germany's ARD television that he didn't know the reasons for the decision to reject a Steinmeier visit but also signaled that Kyiv would like to see Scholz so that “practical decisions" could be made on matters such as weapons.

A senior lawmaker with one of Germany's three governing parties, Wolfgang Kubicki, said he didn't think Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was "well advised" to reject a visit by Steinmeier.

"I cannot imagine that the chancellor, will travel to a country that designates our country's head of state as an unwanted person," he told the German news agency dpa.

Another governing party lawmaker, Juergen Trittin, told the RND newspaper group that the move was "a big propaganda success for Vladimir Putin."

Steinmeier, who became president in 2017, served twice as ex-Chancellor Angela Merkel's foreign minister and before that as ex-Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's chief of staff.

During that time, Germany pursued a dialogue with Putin and cultivated close energy ties.

Last week, Steinmeier admitted mistakes in Germany's policies toward Russia, saying that "we failed on many points."

Asked when would go to Ukraine, Scholz said only that he had visited Kyiv shortly before the war and regularly speaks to Zelenskyy.

Scholz said "the weapons we are delivering have made a very substantial contribution" to Ukraine foiling Russia's plans for a quick conquest.

He was tight-lipped on the possibilities of a bigger German contribution, but insisted that "we are delivering, we have delivered and we will deliver."

On Monday, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock of the Green party said "Ukraine needs further military material, above all heavy weapons, and now is not the time for excuses -- now is the time for creativity and pragmatism."

The message appeared directed at more hesitant German politicians, particularly among Scholz's Social Democrats.

Scholz said "we are delivering the weapons that all the others are also delivering."

He also said Germany won't make unilateral decisions and stressed the need to prevent NATO countries from becoming a party to the war.

Germany, which has Europe's biggest economy, also has faced criticism for opposing a quick halt to deliveries of natural gas from Russia, which accounts for about 40% of its gas supplies.

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