Russia blasts as 'blackmail' Macron's remarks to consider 'accomplice' countries helping Russia in Ukraine

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 on 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, 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.

The spokeswoman 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 to start with the investigation of the Nord Stream gas pipelines explosion 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 stressed.

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

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 explained the change in position by the EU about the need in Chinese economic support and cooperation.