Macron's ogre remark triggers Moscow rebuke Europe tightens pressure

French President Emmanuel Macron's recent description of Vladimir Putin as "a predator" and "an ogre at our gates" has provoked sharp rebukes from Moscow and prompted France and Germany to vow increased pressure on Russia amid new deadly strikes on Kyiv. Macron made the remarks in a televised interview last week and defended them on Friday, while Russia's Foreign Ministry called the language vulgar and unworthy of a head of state.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters that Macron's comments crossed the line of decency and amounted to insults against Russia and its people. The rebuke came as tensions between Paris and Moscow remain high since Russia's fullscale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. On Russian television, pro-Kremlin host Vladimir Solovyov amplified the rhetoric, warning of hypothetical scenarios in which NATO forces approached Russia's borders and taunting Macron with imagery of Russian troops on Paris's avenues.

Macron rejected Moscow's criticism at a joint press appearance with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, saying he was not being vulgar but expressing how deeply nations such as Georgia and Ukraine feel about Russian actions....