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.

  • ShittyBeatlesFCPres@lemmy.world
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    18 hours ago

    At this point, I don’t think Russia could win a conventional war with France, much less one they attack France first and it triggers Article 5. I might not have thought that before Ukraine but once you start relying on North Korea for bullets and personnel, you’re down bad.

      • Tollana1234567@lemmy.today
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        11 hours ago

        chinas also buying up resources inside russia, sooner or latter russia will be a hollowed out husk as a vassal for the ccp.

        • Renohren@lemmy.today
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          11 hours ago

          It’s a bit less than 1% erosion per year but yeah… They got bakmut two years ago and now they are at chassiv yar, 4 miles further according to Google maps.

    • Sylvartas@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      18 hours ago

      Also France has 4 nuclear-powered ICBM launcher subs. Even if article 5 doesn’t happen it can independently decide to kickstart the apocalypse