France and the rest of the Western world needs Russia to defeat Islamic extremism in the Middle East, the journalist said.
“Russia isn’t a child from whom one could take away sweets for being rude on Sundays… Countries aren’t teenagers, whom you can put in the right place with appropriate punishment,” Girard said, as cited by Le Figaro.
France needs to improve relations with Russia, as Western isolation pushes Russia closer to China. According to the Le Figaro journalist, France should follow its own national interests and stop sanctions against Russia.
“Let’s do it without asking permission from the Americans. Let’s act pragmatically, like they do,” Girard argued, adding that regardless of who was in power in Moscow they never played against French national interests.
The European Union, the United States and some other Western countries have imposed several rounds of sanctions on Russia, accusing Moscow of violating the territorial integrity of Ukraine and interfering in the Donbas conflict. Russia has repeatedly refuted the accusations.
