François Fillon in the sights of the British for his links with Russia – The HuffPost

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Charles Platiau via Reuters

Fillon in the crosshairs of British sanctions for his links with Russian power (photo taken during his trial for fictitious jobs on February 24, 2020 in Paris)

POLITICS – If François Fillon thought he would be forgotten in Russia, it failed. The former prime ministerwho now works for a Russian petrochemical giantcould be one of the personalities targeted by the British sanctions decided in response to the invasion of Ukraine.

François Fillon joined Sibur’s board of directors in December 2021. The group is controlled among others by Leonid Mikhelson, one of the richest men in Russia, and Gennady Timchenko, a close associate of President Putin already targeted by recent sanctions from the United Kingdom.

François Fillon could also be concerned. On Thursday February 24, Conservative MP and chairman of Britain’s Foreign Affairs Committee Tom Tughendat told Channel 4 television that the former prime minister could end up on the list of people sanctioned because of their “cooperation with economic interests of Vladimir Putin”.

In his first announcements, Boris Johnson very specifically targeted five businessmen. He did not mention François Fillon. But for Tom Tughendat, the former head of government of Nicolas Sarkozy could be one of those who fall within the “perimeter” of British sanctions. In the same way as the former German chancellor Gerhard Schröder, member of the board of directors of the Russian oil giant Gazprom, since 2017.

Serial resignations in Russian companies

“I don’t know if they will be targeted or not,” said the Conservative MP. “But I think anyone who helps to enable Russian aggression and war should know that they can be punished,” he adds.

Since the appearance of tensions with Russia over the Ukrainian crisis, the name of François Fillon has been regularly cited. Secretary of State Clément Beaune accused him of “complicity” with the Russian president, as did EELV presidential candidate Yannick Jadot. The LR clan, Valerie Pécresse in the lead, tried to defend their former colleague, but the recent statement of the interested party on NATO and the Ukrainian crisis did not help.

Since the beginning of the Russian invasion on the night of February 23 to 24, the position of the former prime minister seems more and more difficult to hold. While a series of ex-European leaders (the Finn Esko Aho, the Italian Matteo Renzi and the Austrian Christian Kern) resigned from the boards of directors of the Russian companies in which they sat, the Frenchman remained -at this day at his post.

See also on The HuffPost: Ukraine: these sentences of Zemmour on Putin which turn against him