Putin hits out at wannabe Napoleons
Some people still “can’t get over” Napoleon’s defeat by Russia, President Vladimir Putin has said. He made the comments after French President Emmanuel Macron called Moscow a threat to his country.
In a televised address on Wednesday, Macron said Russia is a “threat to France and Europe” and that he is considering expanding the French nuclear umbrella to protect other EU member states.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called Macron’s speech “highly confrontational,” adding that Paris is “apparently contemplating war.”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov compared the French president to Napoleon, whose disastrous invasion of Russia eventually led to his downfall.
Putin also referred to Napoleon's infamous retreat from Moscow during his meeting with the members of the Defenders of the Fatherland Foundation in Moscow on Thursday. One of the attendees mentioned a church in Smolensk, a city in western Russia that was briefly occupied by Napoleon’s troops in 1812.
“You’ve mentioned Smolensk, its museum, and the church that has existed since Napoleon’s invasion,” Putin said. “Some people still can’t get over it. There are still people who want to return to the times of Napoleon, but they are forgetting how it ended.”
After subduing most of continental Europe, Napoleon led his army of 600,000 men into Russia, which was ruled by Tsar Alexander I at the time. Despite occupying Moscow after the bloody battle of Borodino, Napoleon was unable to make the Russians surrender and was forced to hastily retreat, losing the majority of his army in the process.
EU countries have been rushing to find alternatives to the American military presence in Europe after US President Donald Trump reversed his predecessor’s policies of “isolating” Russia on the world stage, and refused to blame Moscow for the Ukraine conflict. On Monday, he reportedly halted all weapons deliveries to Kiev.
