"From the moment civilians are killed in this way without defence, it covers the definition of war crimes", declared on BFMTV and RMC the far-right candidate.
"This is clearly a war crime" and "at all costs there must be an urgent investigation carried out by the UN and possibly by the International Criminal Court ( These facts are inadmissible, it was a real barbarism and those who are responsible for this, obviously, will have to be heavily condemned, first morally and diplomatically", added Ms. Le Pen.
The candidate, who had been received in 2017 by Vladimir Putin, had refused at the end of March to call him a "war criminal" because "we do not negotiate peace by insulting one of the two parties".
Asked about one of her spokespersons, MEP Thierry Mariani, close to Vladimir Putin, who had spoken of "a poisoning operation" about the bombing of the Mariupol theater, Marine Le Pen replied that "normally in a campaign (...) we do not mention international subjects" and that she herself "carried quite well (her) own word".
Marine Le Pen nevertheless underlined that Russia "is not going to disappear, (...) it will be a great European power, so it will be necessary at some point, despite the differences (...) to try to prevent Russia leave definitively in the arms of China".
The RN candidate had estimated Thursday that once the war was over, Vladimir Putin could "of course" become an ally of France again.
On February 11, she had mentioned the possibility of concluding an “agreement” with Russia to include it “in a European security architecture which cannot be confused with NATO alone”, considered as a “warmongering organization”.
Asked whether, elected, she would agree to pay for Russian gas in rubles, as Vladimir Putin asks, she replied that she "above all wanted there to be no disruption of supply".
Marine Le Pen criticized Emmanuel Macron's "doodle policy" in energy matters: "We have the impression of a kind of goldfish in a jar, we go around in circles, we do and undo".
© 2022 AFP