UPDATE - Russia blasts as 'blackmail' Macron's bid to label countries helping Russia in Ukraine as ‘accomplices’

REVISES HEADLINE, ADDS MORE REMARKS FROM RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESWOMAN

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) - Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on Wednesday blasted as "blackmail" remarks by French President Emmanuel Macron saying anyone helping Russia in the Ukraine war would become an "accomplice."

Macron delivered his speech Wednesday on the first day of his trip to China, where he arrived in an attempt to change Beijing's position on Ukraine.

Commenting on his statement at a press briefing in Moscow, Zakharova said: "Threats to countries that intend to help, interact with, or cooperate with our country are just open blackmail."

"On what basis and who gave the right to talk to sovereign countries in this way. It is impossible to understand. No one has such a right…No one has the right to give us such ultimatums, threats and blackmail, neither to us nor to other sovereign countries," she stressed.

She added that France has to learn "how to implement their sovereign, independent policy and defend their national interests" before lecturing others on this point.

She recommended starting with the investigation of the Nord Stream gas pipeline explosions in the Baltic Sea.

"While they do not even have the nerve to ask each other what happened on their territory, in the NATO area of responsibility, with the civilian infrastructure that ensured their well-being, all these conversations are threats and blackmail. There is no other way to call it," she emphasized.

Zakharova noted that as the head of France, Macron better than anyone knows how much effort Russia put in an attempt to solve Ukraine's crisis through the implementation of the 2014 Minsk agreement.

And as the head of a NATO member country, Macron knows how much the alliance did to destabilize the situation there, she added.

"If he knows all that and still says such things, then it's just a substitution of concepts, hypocrisy and the spread of untruth," she said.

Zakharova called on Paris to clarify whether Macron's statement is France's "individual foreign policy position" or it is a position agreed upon with the European Union.

She noted that EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell named China as an important partner, although, she added, Beijing was previously "ranked as a wild jungle."

Zakharova attributed the change in the EU’s position to the need for Chinese economic support and cooperation.

Turning to remarks by Canadian ambassador to the UN Rob Rae, who said on Twitter that Russian journalist Vladlen Tatarsky, who was recently killed in a St. Petersburg cafe after a young woman delivered him an explosive disguised as a gift, was a "propagandist," Zakharova asked if his remarks mean that he considers it possible to carry out terrorist attacks against people that he ranks as "wrong."

"For the first time we've heard about the segregation of people for victims of terrorist attacks and those against whom terrorist attacks are normal. We demand from Canada explanations," she stressed.

Zakharova also refuted Ukraine's denial of involvement in the killing of Tatarsky, pointing out that a petition appeared on the Ukrainian president’s website calling to name one of Kyiv's streets in honor of the woman suspected of bringing the explosive device, which is "no accident."

She also quoted media leaks claiming that Ukraine's presidential administration thanked the country's intelligence service for the "successful operation."

Moscow plans to put the killing of Tatarsky on the agenda of one of the UN Security Council meetings, she said.

Zakharova also condemned Kyiv for the persecution of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, saying no one should remain silent about the arrest of the head of Ukraine's biggest monastery, Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra Metropolitan Paul.

"No one should remain silent. Neither countries, nor public organizations, peoples in whose states the fundamental religion is Islam, Buddhism, Judaism. This will also affect those who profess these same religions on the territory of Ukraine. They won't stop," she said, adding that representatives of any religion may be hurt over accusations of being "pro-Russian."

Asked about consular access to US journalist Evan Gershkovich, who is accused of espionage, Zakharova said the relevant request is being processed by the authorities.

Zakharova also commented on the possibility of sending a peacekeeping mission of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) to Armenia, saying its deployment depends on Yerevan's willingness to host it.

She also said that Russia will do everything in its power to prevent deliveries of ammunition containing depleted uranium to Ukraine.