France not to accept any foreign meddling in presidential election: FM

French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault on Wednesday warned Russia or any other state not to interfere in its upcoming presidential election after allegations that Russian hackers have been targeting presidential hopeful Emmanuel Macron.

"We will not accept any interference whatsoever in our electoral process, no more from Russia, by the way, than from any other state. This is a question of our democracy, our sovereignty, our national independence," Ayrault told lawmakers.

The French top diplomat warned that the country would take "retaliatory measures when that is necessary, because no foreign state can influence the choice of the French, no foreign state can choose the future president of the Republic."

"After what's happened in the United States, it's our responsibility to take all the measures so that integrity of our democratic process will be fully respected," Ayrault added.
 [Xinhua/China]
 16/2/17