Putin reacts to Macron's 'Russia is a threat' statement by reminding him of events from the past

Russian President Vladimir Putin had mocked French President Emmanuel Macron's speech where he called Russia a threat to Europe and France by making a comparison with Napoleon Bonaparte's failed attempt to conquer Russia in 1812.

The Russian president was speaking at a meeting on Thursday with mothers and widows of perished soldiers, who were killed in Russia's invasion on Ukraine.

Macron, in a televised evening address to the French nation on Wednesday, described Russia as a “threat to France and Europe” and said he had decided “to open the strategic debate on the protection of our allies on the European continent by our (nuclear) deterrent.”

Without saying Macron's name, Putin said "some people still can't sit still. There are still people who want to go back to the times of Napoleon, forgetting how it ended."

In a subsequent conversation with the mother of a fallen Russian soldier, Putin said "they (Russia's enemies) underestimated the character of the Russian people and representatives of Russian culture in general."