Russia threatens France

The Kremlin also commented on Macron's address to the nation, evaluating it as "extremely confrontational" and arguing that the speech only shows that France's intentions are to continue the war, and not to move towards achieving peace.

Then official Paris announced today that it was offering intelligence to Ukraine, a day after the United States announced it was suspending intelligence sharing with Kyiv.

The French defense minister also pointed out that France is militarily ready and that its nuclear forces are strong enough.

"Of course, this is a threat to Russia. If he considers us a threat, calls a meeting of the chiefs of general staff of European countries and Britain, says that it is necessary to use nuclear weapons, is preparing to use nuclear weapons against Russia, that is, of course, a threat," said the head of Russian diplomacy.

Lavrov also reiterated that Moscow would not tolerate any NATO troops in Ukraine.

"We will consider the presence of these troops on Ukrainian territory in the same way as we considered the potential presence of NATO in Ukraine," Lavrov said at a press conference.

Macron's dramatic speech: We must arm ourselves; Europe in danger?

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In his address to the nation, Macron pointed out that Russia is a threat to France, but also to the whole of Europe.

Macron began his speech by listing the current security and economic challenges facing the world, and then talked about armaments.

"Europe needs to be able to defend itself better. We need to come up with a long-term peace plan. Europe needs to be able to defend itself better. We need to arm ourselves more," he pointed out.

Moscow's first reactions

Deputy President of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev was the first to react from Moscow, saying that Macron is not a threat and no one will miss him after his term ends.

The spokeswoman for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maria Zakharova, later assessed that the French president's statements about Russia and the French nuclear arsenal "are not in accordance with reality" and are contrary to his previous views.