US must repay France for loss due to sanctions on Russian energy imports: Le Pen

The United States must repay France for the loss of Russian gas if European Union (EU) imposes sanctions on Russian energy imports, said French Presidential candidate Marine Le Pen.

Noting Washington’s pressure on the European Union to slash Russian oil and energy imports, Le Pen, in a statement, said that Americans who earn “solid profits” by selling liquified gas “could transfer the money to France, ” several local media agencies quoted. Pen also alerted that anti-Russian sanctions on gas and energy will see an “unbearable” rise in already-high fuel prices, for which the US fuel magnates care “very little” about.

Notably, the French presidential candidate Le Pen is an avid supporter of sanctions against Russia, except embargo on oil and gas. “I am perfectly in favour of all the other sanctions. I don’t want French people to suffer the consequences of the sanctions,” Le Pen said.

It is relevant to state that the far-right politician won the highest number of votes after the first round of counting. Le Pen faces French President Emmanuel Macron in the presidential elections. The second round of the French presidential election is set to be held on April 24.

In the first round of voting for the next French President, Marine Le Pen and two other parties together has received 32% of the vote, while Macron won 27.8% votes, as per reports.

As per reports, amid the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, Le Pen has been criticised by her rivals for “being too close” to Russia. She had supported Russia’s move to annex Crimea in 2014. Her political party is also said to have received a loan from a Russian bank with ties to Kremlin in the same year. Later in 2017, she called for scrapping international sanctions in relation to the same.

On April 13, Marine Le Pen has promised that she would remove France from the command structure of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) if she wins the presidential elections. However, the presidential candidate clarified that she would not leave the bloc, instead just move out of its command hierarchy, given that the US leads the integrated command.