French leader rejects possible sending of Leclerc tanks to Ukraine

Paris, Jan 23 (Prensa Latina) Marine Le Pen, leader of the National Rally party and former presidential candidate, warned on Monday about the risk of internationalizing the conflict in Ukraine in the face of the possible sending by France of Leclerc tanks to that country.

January 23, 2023
10:48

The leading figure of the French far-right expressed a “No,” after President Emmanuel Macron said on Sunday that he does not exclude the delivery of modern armored vehicles, although he conditioned it to several elements.

“I think that the question would be, Is that not going to aggravate this war more? And if the war aggravates, the dead will multiply; Is that the objective?” Le Pen warned on BFM TV.

The priority should be not to move away from the negotiated solution of peace in a conflict that has been confronting Russia and Ukraine for 11 months, with conflicting arguments to explain the war by Moscow and the West, which insists on expanding NATO towards the borders of the Eurasian power, she said.

Macron broached the issue of the Leclerc tank sending during a joint press briefing with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, under pressure to send Leopard 2 armored vehicles to Kiev amid Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s demands for more powerful weapons.

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