The speaker of Russia’s lower house of parliament warned French President Emmanuel Macron against sending troops to Ukraine, stating that they would meet the same fate as Napoleon’s army, according to Politico.
Vyacheslav Volodin, chairman of the State Duma (Russia’s parliament), responded on Wednesday to Monday’s statement by Macron that “nothing is ruled out,” when it came to Western countries sending troops to Ukraine to help in the war.
Before making such statements, Macron would do well to remember how it ended for Napoleon and his soldiers, more than 600,000 of whom were left lying in the damp earth.
The exact number of Grande Armée infantry killed in Napoleon’s military campaign in 1812 is disputed, but historians usually put the figure above 300,000.
Volodin also accused Macron of desiring to “spark a third world war” in an attempt to stay in power. At the same time, former Russian President and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev repeated Volodin’s comparison of Macron to Napoleon in a Telegram post on Wednesday.
The petty and tragic heirs of Bonaparte… are eager for revenge with Napoleonic magnitude and are spouting fierce and extremely dangerous nonsense.
Macron’s comments were made on Monday at a summit of European leaders in Paris, where increased support for Ukraine was under discussion. However, many European leaders and other NATO members, including the United States and Germany, have rejected the prospect of sending troops to Ukraine.
