Ukraine war: Russia slams Emmanuel Macron for saying Kremlin is becoming subservient to China
- The French president said in an interview that Russia was becoming a de facto vassal of the Asian superpower
- Kremlin officials hit back, describing the relationship as a strategic partnership and saying the West was ‘fearful’ of strong Moscow-Beijing ties
Russian officials on Monday denounced comments by French President Emmanuel Macron that Moscow was becoming subservient to China, saying Western countries must get used to a world underpinned by the Kremlin’s close ties with Beijing.
The Russian criticism focused on an interview Macron gave to the Paris daily l’Opinion in which he decried the Kremlin’s isolation brought on by its invasion of Ukraine more than 14 months ago.
“[Russia] has de facto started a form of vasallisation with China and has lost access to the Baltic that was critical to it as it has precipitated the decision by Sweden and Finland to join Nato,” Macron was quoted as saying in the daily.
“This was unthinkable two years ago.”
02:46
Putin meets China’s new defence chief in Moscow, hails military cooperation
The polemic appeared to focus on talks in Moscow in March between Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping at which they said they were deepening their strategic partnership by entering “a new era” of ties.
