Ukraine: François Fillon resigns from his Russian mandates

Europe 1 with AFP 6:43 p.m., February 25, 2022

Former Prime Minister François Fillon announced on Friday that he was resigning from his Russian mandates on the boards of directors of the petrochemical giant Sibur and of Zarubezhneft, a company specializing in hydrocarbons, he indicated in a column in the

to be published in full Sunday.

"I cannot continue my participation in the boards of Russian companies Zarubezhneft and Sibur"

Faced with the Russian invasion in Ukraine, "I cannot continue my participation in the boards of Russian companies Zarubezhneft and Sibur", said François Fillon, indicating that he was taking this decision with "sadness".

François Fillon, now retired from political life after occupying Matignon for the entire term of Nicolas Sarkozy (2007-2012) and having worn the colors of the right in the 2017 presidential election, drew strong criticism on Thursday after having deplored "the refusal of the West" to hear Moscow's claims concerning NATO, at the very moment when the Russian army invaded Ukraine.

In December 2021, he joined the board of directors of the Russian petrochemical giant Sibur, notably controlled by Leonid Mikhelson, one of the richest men in Russia, and Gennady Timchenko, a close friend of President Vladimir Putin, and targeted by recent UK sanctions.

A few months earlier, in June 2021, he had joined the same body of Zarubeshneft, a company specializing in the development and exploitation of hydrocarbon deposits, particularly abroad, owned by the Russian state.

"The collective failure" to see war again in Europe 

In this forum, of which the

has posted an extract, the former Prime Minister castigates "a collective failure" to see "today, the war is back in the heart of Europe".

"But in the hierarchy of responsibilities, Vladimir Putin is the only one guilty of having started a conflict which could have, which should have been avoided", he affirms, believing that "we have to deal with the realities", " according to the interests of France and those of the security of the country". 

"It's a decision that honors him," reacted LR presidential candidate Valérie Pécresse on the sidelines of a trip to Normandy, before adding: "Today Russia and Russian interests are involved and the Vladimir Putin's attitude cannot be dissociated from that of the large Russian groups which are the backbone of the Russian state".