Macron has forgotten what happened to Napoleon, says Putin after ‘nuclear threat’

MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin, speaking a day after French President Emmanuel Macron called Russia a threat to Europe and raised the idea of putting other European countries under France’s nuclear umbrella, said on Thursday that some people had forgotten what happened to Napoleon.

Putin was referring to the French emperor who marched his army across Russia and into Moscow in 1812 but was then forced into a desperate winter retreat with massive loss of life.

“There are still people who want to go back to the times of Napoleon, forgetting how it ended,” Putin said in televised comments, without mentioning Macron by name.

Earlier on Thursday, Macron faced widespread and vicious condemnation from Russian officials, who exaggeratedly likened his speech to “nuclear blackmail”.

He was compared to Hitler by Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, and told his speech was “extremely confrontational” by Dmitry Peskov, Vladimir Putin’s spokesman.

Konstantin Kosachev, a senior Russian senator, went as far to say Macron was a “maniac” leading the world to “the abyss”.

In his televised address, Macron said the Ukraine war was already a “global conflict” and that the US may no longer be relied on to “stand by” Europe.

Condemning Macron’s plans, Mr Lavrov warned: “If he sees us as a threat... and says that it is necessary to use a nuclear weapon, is preparing to use a nuclear weapon against Russia, of course it is a threat.”

His ministry claimed that “notes of nuclear blackmail were clearly heard” in Macron’s speech, which Peskov called “extremely confrontational” and claimed as evidence that “France wants the war to continue”.