Emmanuel Macron's address to the nation warning about "the Russian threat" has caused unprecedented tension between Paris and Moscow since the beginning of the Ukrainian war. The Kremlin condemned the bellicose tone used by Macron and warned that his nuclear rhetoric, offering to extend his "nuclear umbrella" to European allies, is "a threat to Russia."
Putin referred to Macron in a meeting with employees of the Defenders of the Fatherland Foundation on Thursday afternoon, without directly mentioning him, alluding to the fate of Napoleon Bonaparte, who invaded Russia in 1812, where he was defeated and forced to retreat. "There are still those who want to revive the times of Napoleon, forgetting how it ended," Putin said, adding that all the mistakes "of our enemies" began with the "underestimation" of the Russian people's character. He also emphasized: "We do not need what is not ours, but we will not give up what is ours," regarding the territories he controls in Ukrainian territory.
Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, on his part, stressed that the presence of a EU military contingent in Ukraine would mean "a direct war" of European countries against Russia.
"The speech was in an extremely confrontational tone," said Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov, accusing the French president of wanting to prolong the war in Ukraine. "It can hardly be perceived as the speech of a head of state seeking peace."
"Who can believe, in the current context, that today's Russia will stop in Ukraine?" Macron asked in his televised intervention, appealing to patriotism and the "strength" of the French people and announcing the rearmament of the country with "additional investments" in Defense and security.
Macron pointed out how Russia's military spending has reached 6.3% of its GDP (France's is only 2%) and how his "additional effort" has involved the recruitment of 300,000 soldiers. "The Russian threat seems to have no boundaries," he emphasized.
"The future of Europe should not be decided in Washington or Moscow," emphasized the French head of state in his televised address on Wednesday. "The threat from the east has returned. And the innocence of the last 30 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall is over."
Macron accused Russia of "testing our limits in the air, at sea, in space, and on our screens," referring to the "hybrid war" since the invasion of Ukraine and after the incident last weekend when a Russian fighter jet "revealed a manifest willingness to destroy" a French unmanned Reaper drone in the Mediterranean, according to a statement from the French military headquarters.
"It is not only the people of Ukraine who are fighting for their freedom," emphasized the French president. "It is also our own security that is under threat. If a country can invade its neighbor without receiving punishment, peace cannot be guaranteed on our continent."
The French president did not hold back criticism of Donald Trump (without directly mentioning him) for his "change of position" in the war in Ukraine and for simultaneously launching an "incomprehensible" trade war with Mexico, Canada, and the European Union. "I want to believe that the United States will be on our side," he clarified, "but we must be prepared if it is not."