Former French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said on Tuesday that his conversations with former President Nicolas Sarkozy were being listened to for five years by the U.S. National Security Agency.

Fillon, the prime minister during Sarkozy's term (2007-2012), was questioned by the National Assembly's Commission of Enquiry into "political, economic and financial interference of foreign powers," launched on the initiative of the Rassemblement National group, French media reported.

He was notably questioned about Russia's interference, proven or supposed, in French political and economic life.

After his time as the head of the French government and after his candidacy in the 2017 presidential election, he worked as a consultant and business advisor for companies wishing to set up in Russia.

He also sat on the boards of the Russian state-owned oil company Zarubezhneft from June 2021 and the Russian petrochemical giant Sibur from December 2021. He resigned from these positions shortly after the outbreak of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022.

During his hearing, Fillon said his activities while working for Russian companies were only related to his personal work and did not involve "Russian interference" in France.