Macron's comments on the conflict in Ukraine led to Russia responding with threats
Allies of Russian President Vladimir Putin told French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday (28) that any troops he sends to Ukraine will have the same end as Napoleon Bonaparte's Grande Armée, whose invasion of Russia in 1812 ended in death and Defeat ended.
On Monday, Macron raised the possibility that European nations could send troops to Ukraine, but warned that there was no consensus yet.
His comments prompted a number of other Western countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom, to say they had no such plans.
The Russian government has said that a conflict between the country and the USled Western military alliance North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) would be inevitable if European NATO members sent troops to fight in Ukraine.
Soldiers dead in the damp earth
Vyacheslav Volodin, speaker of the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament and a close ally of Putin, said Macron seemed to see himself as Napoleon and warned him against following in the French emperor's footsteps.
“To maintain his personal power, Macron could think of nothing better than to start a third world war. His initiatives will be dangerous for the citizens of France,” Volodin said on his official social media profile.
“Before making such statements, Macron should remember how it ended for Napoleon and his soldiers, more than 600,000 of whom were left in the damp earth.”
Napoleon's invasion of Russia in 1812 initially progressed quickly and captured Moscow. But Russian tactics forced their Grande Armée into a long retreat, and hundreds of thousands of their men died of disease, starvation and cold.
Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, now vice president of the Russian Security Council, suggested that Macron had dangerous delusions of grandeur and said his statement was an example of how flawed Western political thinking has become.
“The small and tragic heirs of Bonaparte, trying on the golden epaulets torn off 200 years ago, are eager for revenge of Napoleonic proportions and utter violent and extremely dangerous absurdities,” he said.
Russian government: European countries understand the danger
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Macron's statement showed that, unlike Macron, other Western countries understood the risks of a direct confrontation between NATO troops and Russia.
“The leaders of many European governments have quickly stated that they do not and do not plan to do anything of the sort,” she said. “It shows they understand the danger.”