PARIS, April 5. /TASS/. Ukraine’s accession to NATO will prolong the conflict with Russia and ruin the European economy, Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, French National Assembly (lower house of parliament) member and leader of the Debout la France (France Arise) political party, said.

"Granting NATO membership to Ukraine means prolonging the conflict for half a century and ruining the European continent," he told the France Info radio station. "It will also lead to economic dependence on the US," the politician added.

"We are spending public money on US-made weapons," Dupont-Aignan went on to say. "In fact, it’s not about aiding Ukraine but about boosting the US defense industry," he stressed.

The French lawmaker pointed out that Russia and Ukraine had held talks in Istanbul in the spring of 2022, "which were halted under pressure from the US and the UK."

Dupont-Aignan expressed confidence that France needed to return to the Gaullist position. "I think that the time has come for peace, otherwise, Europe will be ruined by economic and social problems," the lawmaker concluded.

French President Emmanuel Macron said on February 26 that some 20 Western countries taking part in a recent Paris meeting on further assistance for Kiev had discussed the possibility of sending troops to Ukraine. According to Macron, no consensus was reached on the issue but such a possibility cannot be ruled out in the future. However, most of the countries that took part in the meeting later stated that they had no plans to send troops to Ukraine.