The head of the French army, General Thierry Burkhard, on Friday said France was Russia’s “main enemy in Europe” as he held a rare press conference ahead of President Emmanuel Macron’s annual address to members of the armed forces.

The Élysée said on Thursday that President Emmanuel Macron will make “major announcements” when he gives a planned speech to members of the armed forces in two days’ time.

Burkhard said Russia saw Paris as a primary adversary largely due to French support for Ukraine since the full-scale Russian invasion. “It was [Vladimir] Putin who said” this, the general added.

  • Stovetop@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    10
    ·
    edit-2
    1 day ago

    Agreed, especially on the psyops front. It’s no secret that Russia has been manipulating global politics for a long time now, and France is another European country which has seen a rising Russia-friendly neofascist movement in Rassemblement National. They’ve just barely been kept out of power the past few election, but as their numbers keep growing, one must only wonder how much longer that can be the case.

    Similar with Germany and AfD. Europe is being worn down from within and no one seems to be inclined to do anything about it.

    • Wahots@pawb.social
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      23 hours ago

      That’s the same thing that got us here in the US. You have to clamp down on that shit while you still can. The fucking Russian government is good at it.