Zelensky calls on French MPs to stop companies 'sponsoring Russian war machine'

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelynsky (l.) speaking by videolink from Kyiv at the French National Assembly in Paris, 23 March 2022. Pictured right is Gérard Larcher, president of the Senat. © Screengrab Assemblee Nationale

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged French firms – including carmaker Renault, supermarket group Auchan and DIY retailer Leroy Merlin – to leave Russia during an address to the French parliament on Wednesday.

"French companies must quit the Russian market," Zelensky said during a 15-minute video address in his trademark green t-shirt.

"Renault, Auchan, Leroy Merlin and others must stop sponsoring the Russian war machine."

French lawmakers gave Ukraine and its ambassador to France three standing ovations before the address by Zelensky, who has spoken to parliaments across the Western world in previous weeks in a bid to garner support for his country.

Invoking a specifically French national trauma, as he has done in other nations' parliaments, the Ukrainian leader said that images of devastated cities such as Mariupol "recall the ruins of Verdun as in the photos of World War I that everyone has seen".

"The Russian army makes no distinction between targets. They destroy residential areas, hospitals, schools, universities."

"They do not take into account the concepts of war crimes."

🔴 Volodymyr Zelensky (@ZelenskyyUa) s'exprime devant la représentation nationale, en direct par vidéo

🎙️ @RichardFerrand, Président de l'Assemblée, et le président du Sénat expriment leur soutien au peuple ukrainien avant cette prise de parole#DirectAN https://t.co/UGyKuz3yMf

— Assemblée nationale (@AssembleeNat) March 23, 2022

Boycott

Unlike in other speeches to parliaments when Zelensky has appealed for weapons, his main target appeared to be French companies that continue to operate in Russia as well as people who "bury their heads in the sand and try to find money in Russia."

Partly state-owned Renault suspended its production at its plants near Moscow last month after Russia's invasion but has since reportedly resumed production.

• French giants Leroy Merlin, Auchan and Decathlon under fire for Russia ties

Major French retailers such as Auchan, Leroy Merlin and sports group Decathlon have not followed a boycott of Russia by other top Western brands from McDonalds to Coca-Cola.

French energy giant TotalEnergies, formerly known as Total, has said it will continue to buy Russian gas but will stop purchasing Russian oil and petroleum products by the end of this year.

"I know how to replace this oil and diesel fuel," CEO Patrick Pouyanne told RTL radio on Wednesday, but "with gas, I don't know how to do it."

(With AFP)