PRESS RELEASE

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Hollande Says Russia Is a Partner, not a ’Threat’

July 9, 2016 (EIRNS) —On his arrival yesterday in Warsaw for the NATO Summit French President François Hollande said that Russia should not be considered a threat but rather as a partner, of NATO. "NATO has no role at all to be saying what Europe’s relations with Russia should be. For France, Russia is not an adversary, not a threat," Hollande said. "Russia is a partner which, it is true, may sometimes, and we have seen that in Ukraine, use force which we have condemned when it annexed Crimea," he said. "We are still trying, and again recently with Madame Merkel, to find a solution to the Ukraine crisis."

While he said France believed it was important to bolster NATO, so it could carry out its mission, but all had to do their bit. "France will do what it has to do but no more," he said.