War in Ukraine: in Chambéry, Zemmour tries to defend his about-face on Russia – Teller Report

On the second day of the war in Ukraine, Eric Zemmour continued his campaign imperturbably. “Obviously, the event is serious and the war in Europe is not something trivial, agreed the candidate, passing through, Friday, February 25, in a farm in Haute-Savoie. But we are in the presidential campaign, it is a democratic meeting which is not insignificant either. » He assures that people were waiting for him in the region and that he “didn’t want to disrespect them”. Besides, ” there is war in Europe, but there is no war in France”.

The far-right candidate took the opportunity to collect three sponsorships at lunch, including the long-staged one from Antoine Valentin, the Les Républicains mayor of Saint-Jeoire, in Haute-Savoie. The latter had organized, a month ago, a consultation of its 3,400 citizens to find out who to sponsor. The results are not available anywhere, but Eric Zemmour came out on top, assures the city councilor, followed by Jean-Luc Mélenchon and Marine Le Pen. “Let’s be clear, sponsorship is not political support”had specified Mr. Valentin in a video, but it was ultimately he who opened Eric Zemmour’s meeting in the evening and called for ” the reconquest “. His rallying is moreover a half-surprise: he was already publishing forums, in 2021, in Current values to the glory of Bonaparte and the “real country” dear to Charles Maurras.

Mr. Zemmour, for his part, was above all seeking to make people forget in the high mountains his cumbersome declarations on Russia, and his sustained admiration for Vladimir Putin. “The problem of Ukraine is not an invasion, I do not believe in ithe said, on December 9, 2021. Russia, I bet, will not invade Ukraine. “I think there is a lot of propaganda, agitation from the American services to hysterize this story”, he said again on February 20. Twenty-four hours later, Vladimir Putin declared that he recognized the independence of the pro-Russian separatist zones.

“We will not be obliged to anyone”

Eric Zemmour avoided all day Friday to come back to it, and assured that his speech, in Chambéry, “would answer all questions”during a meeting “imprinted with more gravity than the previous ones”. He finally settled for two sentences. “Remember, a while ago many of us thought that neither side would let things escalate into war, said the candidate, in front of an excited room of nearly 3,500 people, and our government was sure that it had convinced the Russians not to intervene. And we had reason to think that war would be avoided. » The responsibility lies, for him, with the United States, which intends “pushing NATO’s borders further each time”.

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