Russian forces will kill all French soldiers who are deployed to fight in Ukraine, a Russian lawmaker has said.
Pyotr Tolstoy, the deputy chairman of the lower house of Russia’s parliament, made the remarks in an interview with French broadcasting television network BFM TV that aired on Thursday.
EVA MANHART/APA/AFP/Getty Images
“We are going to kill all the French soldiers who are going to come to Ukrainian soil because today, during the conflict in Ukraine, there are 13,000 mercenaries, including 360 French,” Tolstoy said. “One hundred and forty-seven have already been killed, so 147 citizens of France were killed in Ukraine.”
His comments come after French President Emmanuel Macron doubled down last week on the possibility of sending ground troops into Ukraine.
Macron has said there are “no limits” to Paris’ support for Kyiv. In late February, he suggested that NATO members could send ground troops to Ukraine, and the leader reiterated that statement last week, saying that “we cannot exclude options” because “the security of Europe and the security of the French people is at stake here.”
Newsweek reached out to the foreign ministries of France and Russia for comment via email.
Tolstoy echoed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s recent nuclear threats, telling BFM TV that Russia was considering the possibility of a nuclear strike on Paris, and that Russia is “ready” for nuclear war.
“What is important historically for Russia is to ensure the security of the country,” Tolstoy said.
Days earlier, on March 14, Macron said in an interview on French national television TF1 and France 2 that while Western troops aren’t needed in Ukraine now, he wouldn’t rule out sending ground troops to the war-torn country in the future.
“We’re not in that situation today,” Macron said, adding that “all these options are possible.”
“Today, to have peace in Ukraine, we must not be weak,” he said. “If war was to spread to Europe, it would be Russia’s sole choice and sole responsibility. But for us to decide today to be weak, to decide today that we would not respond, is being defeated already. And I don’t want that.”
He added: “If Russia wins this war, Europe’s credibility will be reduced to zero.”
Putin warned last month that “Russia won’t let anyone interfere in its internal affairs,” and that his country’s “strategic nuclear forces are in a state of full readiness.”
Other NATO members, including the U.S. and Germany, have ruled out sending ground troops to Ukraine. Last week, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said President Joe Biden has “made it clear that we will not put U.S. boots on the ground.”
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.