Lavrov: Macron 'preparing to use a nuclear weapon against Russia'
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says French President Emmanuel Macron's pledge of providing nuclear deterrence to European partners is a "threat".
Macron on Wednesday called Russia a "threat to France and Europe", saying he will open a debate on extending France's nuclear deterrent, following a phone conversation with Germany's likely next chancellor Friedrich Merz.
"Of course it is a threat against Russia. 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," Lavrov said on Thursday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said later: "There are still people who want to return to the times of Napoleon, forgetting how it ended."
French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Russia in 1812 in a disastrous six-month military campaign that ended in Russian victory.
Lavrov went as far as comparing Macron to Hitler and Napoleon, saying while the French leader did not declare a plan to conquer Russia, he "evidently wants the same thing".
The minister also said Moscow will not allow a NATO presence in Ukraine, after Macron reaffirmed that European military forces could be sent to the country.
"We see no room for compromise. This discussion is being held with an overtly hostile aim," he added.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called Macron's speech "extremely confrontational", saying Russia felt that "France wants the war to continue".
Macron is saying that "Russia has become practically an enemy of France" but not that NATO's military presence is encroaching on Russia's borders, he said.
Defense Minister Andrey Belousov visited Russia's nuclear weapons development laboratory on Thursday.
Peskov said the Ukraine war "is actually a conflict between Russia and the collective West. And the main country of the collective West is the United States of America".
"We agree that it is time to stop this conflict and this war," he said.
On Wednesday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio cast the conflict as a proxy war between Russia and the US, making a case for President Donald Trump's push to end it.
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