François Fillon: French Presidential Candidate's Links with Russians and Armenians

• 11.29.2016, 12:34
•  Europe,  World

François Fillon, the socially conservative former prime minister has won the primary race to become the French right’s presidential candidate next spring.

In social and economic terms Fillon has almost the same position as his competitors, but in terms of the foreign policy the former prime minister is considered to be "the most pro-Russian candidate."

Speaking about the need for a fundamental review of policy towards Russia, Fillon said that it is necessary to cancel the sanctions as soon as possible. He says the West's sanctions policy has failed, causing nothing but European farmers' bankruptcy.

"I think Hollande's policy towards Russia is absurd. Russia can become extremely dangerous if we continue to treat this country as we do now," Fillon said, adding, ''It is dangerous, given that Russia is one of the world's largest countries, where there is a large number of nuclear weapons. "

Francois Fillon said that if he becomes president of France he will normalize the relations with Moscow, without waiting for the US approval.

It is noteworthy that Fillon's critics and opponents called him a "puppet of Putin", referring to his warm personal relationship with Vladimir Putin.

Interestingly, this fact was not even concealed by Kremlin. Recently, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Putin and Francois Fillon have cordial relations since the time Putin was the Prime Minister of Russia.

As for Fillon's connection to Armenia, the magazine Nouvelles d'Armеnie asked him some questions connected with the Armenian community of France.

One of the issues was related to the official acceptance of April 24 as a national day of remembrance, and the other one to the support of the French authorities in the struggle of the Armenian community against Turkish denial policy.

To both issues Francois Fillon gave a positive response, as well as promised to found Armenian civilization and memory center in Paris.

In addition, Fillon reiterated his view on refusal of Turkey's membership to the European Union.