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Russian expert points to Fillon as best French presidential candidate for Moscow

The first round of the French presidential election will take place on April 23

French presidential candidate Francois Fillon EPA/SEBASTIEN NOGIER

French presidential candidate Francois Fillon

© EPA/SEBASTIEN NOGIER

MOSCOW, April 21. /TASS/. Former French Prime Minister, presidential candidate Francois Fillon would make the best option for Russia, Yevgenia Obichkina, a professor in the International Relations and Foreign Policy Department at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, told TASS on Friday.

According to her, under Fillon, relations between Russia and France "could improve as far as sanctions are concerned."

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"But at the same time, relations between Russian and the European Union would still continue to go through ups and downs even if Russian-French relations improve thanks to Putin and Fillon. It is never possible to achieve perfection in everything," the expert said.

Obichkina went on to say that more than a half of the French presidential candidates stood for dialogue with Russia. "As far as leader of the National Front Marine Le Pen’s recent visit to Moscow goes, for her it was just another opportunity to emphasize that her policies would be based on common sense," the expert noted. "Le Pen will not sacrifice the interests of France, French consumers and producers to the North Atlantic ideas," she explained.

The first round of the French presidential election will take place on April 23 and the second round is scheduled to be held on May 7. According to the recent opinion polls, Fillion is expected to receive 20% of the vote in the first round of the elections while Le Pen may gain 22%.

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