Moscow said on Wednesday that French troops will be targeted by the Russian military if they are sent to Ukraine.
“If the French appear in the conflict zone (in Ukraine), they will inevitably become targets for the Russian Armed Forces. It seems to me that Paris already has evidence of this,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a press briefing in Moscow.
Zakharova claimed that French President Emmanuel Macron's remarks on the possibility of sending troops to Ukraine is rejected not only among Paris' allies in the EU and NATO, but also among “the vast majority of French citizens.”
She argued that Macron's rhetoric on this issue is viewed among French citizens as “very dangerous and aggressive,” further claiming that they are becoming hostages and “direct victims” of this rhetoric.
"We are not at all surprised by official Paris' manipulation of the age-old myth about a certain Russian threat to France and the whole of Europe, nor by the desire to justify multi-billion dollar spending on the hybrid war between the West and Russia in Ukraine," she further said.
Last Thursday, Macron reiterated in an interview with The Economist that sending troops to Ukraine should not be ruled out because they are facing “someone who is not ruling anything out” in Russia.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov defined Macron's recent remarks on the matter as a “very dangerous trend.”
Commenting on Germany calling its ambassador to Russia back to Berlin for consultations on Monday after alleged Russian cyberattacks, Zakharova said this step is “another unfriendly step aimed at inciting anti-Russian sentiments” in the country.
She later claimed that Germany “regularly exploits” such “myths” to escalate tensions in bilateral relations.
About a statement released by Ukraine's Foreign Ministry on Monday ahead of Russian President Vladimir Putin's inauguration ceremony, Zakharova said it is “another crude attempt” to interfere in Russia's internal affairs and an assessment “well-paid by the West.”
She further said the absence of Western ambassadors at the inauguration ceremony held on Tuesday raised questions about their presence in Russia.
Zakharova went on to dismiss allegations regarding Russia's involvement in recent arson attacks on warehouses on the outskirts of London, defining them as “provocations” that are part of an “information war” against Moscow.
“Allegations about some connection with the Russian state, which have become a characteristic feature of the British media, are not supported by any facts. All this is nothing more than deliberate misinformation,” she said, adding that Russia does not carry out sabotage against civilian targets.
