far-right with a history of warm ties with russian president putin is staging her strongest bid yet for the french presidency. with polls ahead of sunday s final round election putting her within striking distance. should she succeed, european observers feel and illiberal russian friendly leader taking the helm of the eu s sole nuclear power. experts say le pen s conciliatory position towards moscow s complimenting isolate putin. le pen for example opposes plan to wean europe off russian oil and gas and could jeopardize the eu ban on russian coal. her stance could embolden the kremlin by tying the eu s hands on any further measures against russia, should putin deploy even more inhumane war tactics in ukraine. in brussels, the eaves capital, european diplomats see le pen s surge as a real replay of trump s victory and a brexit. but this time, in the heart of
moscow s complimenting isolate putin. le pen for example opposes plan to wean europe off russian oil and gas and could jeopardize the eu ban on russian coal. her stance could embolden the kremlin by tying the eu s hands on any further measures against russia, should putin deploy even more inhumane war tactics in ukraine. in brussels, the eaves capital, european diplomats see le pen s surge as a real replay of trump s victory and a brexit. but this time, in the heart of europe. many are clinging to hope that she will lose, as she has twice before. quote, i just can t believe they would vote for putin s stooge. said one european diplomat who spoke on the condition of anonymity to speak freely. then again, the double man continued, i could not imagine that someone will vote for trump or that the brits would vote for brexit. one former french diplomat writes today, in the boston globe, sort of with his hair on fire a little bit. he says quote, at a time of the european union has shown un
coalition of the willing nations, is get qualitative improvements and technology into the hands of the ukrainians. poland s ban on russian coal is now in effect. it bans the use and import of russian coal in the country. the move represents a significant shift from russia s previous dominance as poland s coal provider. in 2020, more than 70% of the coal used in poland came from russia. over the weekend, ukrainian president zelenskyy renewed his calls on western leaders to enact embargoes on russian oil. zelenskyy also asked the biden administration to designate russia as a state sponsor of terrorism. jonathan lemire. that s something the white house is considering now, discussions, no decision made yet. general, i wanted to the you you re welcome to weigh in on that, what impact that would. moreover, you alewded to
they keep saying that they will provide ukraine with the kind of defense that it needs to now meat this new offensive in the east. let s talk more about that. be specific about what they re doing. it is because, it is one atrocity after another. how will the west respond to this? europe has already approved five rounds of sanctions against russia since the invasion began. i m sure we will see more. reporter: you re right. five rounds. the fifth was announced today. what it is doing is basically ratcheting up the energy sector because as you know, russia is entirely dependent for its economy on its natural resources. so that is oil, gas, coal, and the like by and large. and europe is weaning itself. it has already announced a ban on russian coal. it is vastly reducing its dependence on russian gas and trying to fill that gap from the
made anti aircraft missiles, but only if slovakia can first secure a permanent replacement anti aircraft system to defend itself. and in the u.s. today, measures to cut off normal trade relations with russia and ban russian oil imports passed the senate unanimously. and the house almost unanimously. the eu approved a ban on russian coal. and in the un general assembly, there was a vote to yank russia off the human rights council. the grisly images that report from the towns around kyiv where russian forces have withdrawn from. but today, in a rare interview with a western media outlet, vladimir putin spokesman told sky news that photos and satellite images of dead civilians left behind by russian forces are all fake s. and lies staged by the ukrainians. he did admit that russia has, quote, significant losses of troops which he calls, quote, a