Marine Le Pen opposes Russian sanctions on gas as presidential elections draws near

French far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen on Tuesday said that she does not support the sanctions against the Russian oil and energy supply, warning that it may backfire and prove to be detrimental to France's own economy. "I do not want French people to face the cost of living consequences of decisions aiming to stop the imports of oil and gas," Le Pen said in an interview with France Inter radio.

"The use of this instrument would mean sanctioning the French people, French enterprises, the French economy which would need years to recover," the French presidential candidate said. 

She had also earlier suggested that France should be "equidistant" between Russia and the US and had expressed admiration for Russia's leader Vladimir Putin. Le Pen sparked a backlash earlier, for insisting that Moscow's 2014 annexation of Crimea was not “illegal”.

'I absolutely disagree Crimea annexation was illegal': Le Penn

In an interview with French channel BFM TV, the French far-right leader appeared to support Kremlin rebuking the "other side" for the longstanding dispute between the East-West ties. Her Front National Party in France has also been under the radar for having links to Russia-backed financiers. Once a candidate for France's presidential election in April, Le Pen said: “I absolutely disagree that it was an 'illegal' annexation but a referendum was held and residents of Crimea chose to rejoin Russia.”

On Tuesday, as she made a controversial remark that she was against the West and EU coordinated sanctions against Russia, Le Pen stirred fresh controversy. "I am perfectly in favor of all the other sanctions which do not cause me any worries," she later clarified in an interview. The French politician who was defeated in 2017 by sitting President Emmanuel Macron in the first runoff vote is barred from entering Ukraine for her "views." "It's a different subject, it wasn't done in a military way," Le Pen said in the interview. "International rules were not respected in Iraq either." She justified her praises for Putin comparing it to her favourability for former US President Donald Trump, both of whom, she said,  desire a return to a "multi-polar" world.

On Tuesday, Le Pen questioned Europe's policy of financing weapons for Ukraine, which she said is fine for defensive purposes, but not if they were used to launch attacks on the Russian forces first.