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The comments from the leader of La France Insoumise came ahead of the French presidential election, scheduled to take place in early April.
Leader of the leftist French political party La France Insoumise Jean-Luc Mélenchon this week called for France to leave the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, hoping to stay out of what the presidential hopeful believes to be a “cold war” between the United States, Russia and China.
Throughout the statement posted on Twitter, the contender reiterated his belief that Russia should be viewed as a partner to France.
“I am in favour of leaving NATO. You have to de-escalate. If we leave NATO, we will not be dragged into the logic of the cold war that the Americans have with Russia and China,” the presidential hopeful announced via Twitter.
“Russia is a partner. I do not agree with making it an enemy. We incorporated 10 countries to NATO in the east, which was seen as a threat by Russia. Especially when anti-missile systems are installed in Poland.”
La Russie est un partenaire. Je ne suis pas d'accord pour qu'on en fasse un ennemi. Nous avons fait entrer 10 pays dans l'OTAN à l'Est, ce qui a été ressenti comme une menace par la Russie. Surtout quand on installe des batteries de missiles anti-missiles en Pologne.#Elysee2022
— Jean-Luc Mélenchon (@JLMelenchon) January 3, 2022
Despite lagging behind in recent French opinion polls, Mélenchon received 20 per cent of the vote in the 2017 French presidential election and has been a mainstay of French politics having been appointed to the French cabinet in 2000.
The comments come following a war of words between France, Australia and the United States following the announcement of the AUKUS agreement and the scrapping of the Naval Group submarine deal.
During the G20 leaders conference late last year, when asked whether Prime Minister Scott Morrison had acted dishonestly, President Emmanuel Macron responded with “I don’t think, I know.”
[Related: Should Canberra rush to mend ties with Paris?]
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