A well-known conservative candidate for the presidency of France Francois Fillon, loyal to Putin's Russia, said that Ukraine would never achieve the return of the Crimean territory. This opinion representative of the Kremlin lobby in the European Union expressed in an interview with the French edition of Le Figaro, writes Evropevda.

"It is useless to insist that Russia withdraw from the Crimea, it will never happen," he said..

According to the presidential candidate, the Crimea is "historically, culturally and linguistically Russian territory," and the only way out of the crisis is to organize an international conference on the future of the Crimea under the auspices of the United Nations.

At the same time, Fillon believes that in the situation with the occupation of the peninsula, one should not forget about the right of peoples to self-determination.

"We must respect two fundamental and contradictory principles: respect for borders and international law and the right to self-determination," he said..

Earlier, Fillon repeatedly spoke out for the termination of sanctions against Russia and the establishment of "strong and sincere" relations with her.

Professor of geopolitics at the ICN business school in Nancy, Alexander Melnik believes that Fillon is a "candidate of Moscow".

The first round of the presidential elections in France will be held on Sunday, April 23, the second - on May 7.

According to the Cevipof poll, four presidential candidates have chances to go on the second round: centrist Emmanuelle Macron, eurosceptic and "friend of Putin" Marin Le Pen, another pro-Russian candidate - conservative Francois Fillon, as well as ultra-left Jean-Luc Melanchon.