PARIS, March 9. /TASS/. If the EU is going to embargo supplies of Russian oil that would be the equivalent of "committing harakiri," French lawmaker and presidential candidate Marine Le Pen told the France-2 TV channel.

"Trying to harm Russia by committing harakiri is a poor method," she said, commenting on the EU’s proposal to impose an embargo on the deliveries of Russian oil. "In this case, our economy is running the risk of dying first and it seems like nowadays that’s what we are aspiring to do," she insisted.

"The use of this instrument would mean sanctioning the French people, French enterprises, the French economy which would need years to recover," the French presidential candidate cautioned. In her opinion, "the repercussions of this move may turn out to be worse than the consequences of the pandemic." "The best way to settle the crisis is to use diplomatic tools," Le Pen stressed.

On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a televised address that in response to a request by the heads of the Donbass republics he had made a decision to carry out a special military operation in order to protect people "who have been suffering from abuse and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years." The Russian leader stressed that Moscow had no plans of occupying Ukrainian territories. Following this, the US, the EU, the UK and a number of other countries announced the introduction of sanctions against Russian legal entities and private individuals. US President Joe Biden signed a decree banning the import of energy products from Russia and new investments in Russia’s energy sector. The UK also announced that it would stop importing Russian oil and petroleum products by the end of 2022.