FILE PHOTO: Russia's Deputy head of the Security Council Dmitry Medvedev takes part in a wreath laying ceremony marking Defender of the Fatherland Day at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier by the Kremlin Wall in Moscow, Russia, February 23, 2024. Sputnik/Yekaterina Shtukina/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
(Reuters) - Russian former president Dmitry Medvedev early on Thursday mocked French President Emmanuel Macron's warning that Russia posed a threat, saying the French leader posed no threat at all and would not be missed once he stepped away from public life.
"Russia has become, as I speak to you and for years to come, a threat to France and Europe, says Macron," Medvedev, now deputy head of Russia's Security Council, wrote in English on the X media platform.
"Micron himself poses no big threat though. He'll disappear forever no later than May 14, 2027. And he won't be missed," he added, misspelling the French president's name.
Macron, in a television address on Wednesday evening, said Europe had to face up to the threat from Russia and proposed a discussion on extending the protection offered by France's nuclear arsenal to its European partners.
"Russia has become a threat for France and Europe," Macron said, adding that "to watch and do nothing would be madness."
Medvedev was viewed as a liberal during his mandate as president from 2008-2012, but has since become an ardent hawk on Russia's foreign policy.
(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Stephen Coates)
