Le Pen To CNN Hack: "There Was A Coup D'etat In Ukraine, There Was No 'Invasion' of Crimea"

Amanpour: Does it not bother you that a big country broke international law and invaded and annexed a small country?

Le Pen: There was a coup d’etat in Ukraine…(interrupted)

Amanpour: That’s what you think?

Le Pen: It’s not just what I think, it’s the reality. There was a coup d’etat. There was an agreement among different nations and the next day this agreement was broken and some people took power…(interrupted)

Amanpour: After the invasion and the annexation…Yes!

Le Pen: There was no invasion of Crimea…(interrupted)

Amanpour: But they [Russia] annexed Crimea! It was part of Ukraine! And the French were part of the deal that guaranteed the independence of Ukraine in 1994.

Le Pen: Crimea was Russian. It has always been Russian…(interrupted)

Amanpour: So it’s fine for you, though? You’re okay with it?

Le Pen: The people [of Crimea] feel Russian. The people decided by a great majority that they wanted to belong to Russia. So we can’t be democratic when it suits us and then reject democracy when you don’t like it…(interrupted)

Amanpour: So you support lifting the sanctions? I’m trying to ask you that. Or should they be conditional to the implementation of the ceasefire agreement known as the Minsk accord?

Le Pen: The sanctions are completely stupid. They have not solved any problems. they haven’t improved the situation at all. All they have done is create major economic problems for the EU. They’re meaningless. Maybe we need to step down? Would we have better peace in the world if we could step back? The President of the United States, the President of Russia could end the Cold War, no one else.