France: Activists throw paint at TotalEnergies headquarters in Paris over relations with Russia

Pressure is mounting on TotalenTotalEnergiesergies as activists spray-painted the facade of the company’s headquarters on the western outskirts of Paris today, and the Greens’ presidential candidate has accused the oil giant and its leader of colluding.

TotalEnergies, one of the world’s leading oil producers, found itself isolated as it maintained its interests in Russia despite the invasion of Ukraine.

Environmental activists, led by the group “Les amis de la terre” (Friends of the Earth), announced that they had painted the glass doors at the entrance to the TotalEnergies building in the La Defens business district of the French capital black. uploaded a video of about 12 activists dressed in yellow vests.

“Every minute, fossil fuels are arming the Kremlin regime and that is why people are dying every day for almost a month,” one woman was heard shouting.

TotalEnergies has not commented on the incident today.

Last month, the company condemned what it called a Moscow military strike on Ukraine, but did not follow up with rival companies Shell, BP and Exxon Mobil to announce its withdrawal from Russia.

Republishing the video of the activists, the candidate of the Greens in the presidential elections of France, Yannick Zando, disapproved of the manipulations of the company.

“Yes, Total must leave Russia and stop funding Putin’s war,” Zando wrote in a tweet.

“Your synergy costs lives,” he said, while tagging the Twitter accounts of TotalEnergies and CEO Patrick Pouyan.

In response to Zando’s tweet, the oil company’s communications team described the allegations of collusion as “baseless”, saying it would imply providing “direct assistance” to the Russian state.

SOURCE: ΑΠΕ-ΜΠΕ