Europe 1 with AFP 2:23 p.m., March 29, 2022, modified at 2:24 p.m., March 29, 2022

The LFI presidential candidate, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, is accused by Yannick Jadot of "abandoning the Ukrainians to the tyranny of Putin (...) under cover of neutrality and peace".

"He validated Putin's annexation of Crimea by saying that Ukraine was run by neo-Nazis," added the EELV candidate.

Ecologist presidential candidate Yannick Jadot again attacked LFI candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon's position on Russia on Tuesday, accusing him of "abandoning the Ukrainians to the tyranny of Putin ( ...) under cover of neutrality and peace".

“This moment of war is very revealing of the principles, of the values” of each: there are “those who defend democracy everywhere”, and “some who consider that democracy is important at home but when it is the others it can be put into perspective,” said Mr. Jadot on LCI.

"A series of candidates are for the abandonment of Ukrainians"

While his competitors reproach him for defending the delivery of arms to the Ukrainian resistance, he considered on the contrary that "the warmongers (...) are those who each time validate the conquests of the tyrants, who validated Grozny, Chechnya, the bombings in Aleppo” in Syria.

He targeted "all those who today say: 'above all we do nothing'", citing by name "Marine Le Pen, Eric Zemmour, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, (...) a whole series of candidates who, under cover of neutrality and peace, are for the abandonment of the Ukrainians to the tyranny of Putin".

>> READ ALSO

- War in Ukraine: Jean-Luc Mélenchon denies being wrong about Russia

He particularly attacked the LFI candidate who is clearly ahead of him in the voting intentions on the left.

"I heard Jean-Luc Mélenchon say 'Putin is in the process of solving the problem in Syria' because he was bombing. Mélenchon always put the communication of Bashar al-Assad (next to, Editor's note) the communication of the international press saying 'we don't know the truth'", and "he validated the annexation of Crimea by Putin by saying that Ukraine was led by neo-Nazis", accused Yannick Jadot.

Jadot attacks Mélenchon

The ecologist and MEP also criticized the Insoumis candidate for "not having wanted to vote in the (French) parliament for recognition of the genocide against the Uyghurs" in China.

"All the images are available, I'm only talking about facts (...) I'm not inveighing against anyone," he argued.

"In these moments of history, do we need a stronger European Union to weigh against dictatorships as against economic powers, or do we need less Europe? Jean- Luc Mélenchon like others want less Europe; I consider that more Europe is needed to face the challenges of this world", further argued the candidate.