The French Foreign Affairs Ministry has a new ritual. Every Thursday, at its weekly press briefing, it denounces Russia's hostile acts toward France. "Lies, instrumentalization, manipulation: the Kremlin's regime continues its headlong rush," said Christophe Lemoine, a spokesperson for the ministry, on Thursday, March 21. "Russian institutions are lying in an increasingly unabashed manner, as witnessed by the statements made on Tuesday by the director of Russian foreign intelligence on the sending of French soldiers to Ukraine," said the diplomat. "We will not allow ourselves to be deceived or intimidated," he concluded, as President Emmanuel Macron and European leaders were meeting in Brussels for a summit largely devoted to military support for Kyiv.

The Russian authorities' virulence has increased since the beginning of the year, particularly since the French president said on February 26 that he would not rule out sending troops to Ukraine. Although his remarks sparked a lively debate among Ukraine's Western allies, Macron was seeking to send a signal to Moscow, calling on Europe to urgently step up their assistance to Kyiv, while American aid was blocked by Congress.

The move prompted Russian President Vladimir Putin to brandish the threat of nuclear strikes once again, along with fresh salvos in Russia's war of words with France. Macron is "a coward," said Dmitry Medvedev, the Security Council's number two adviser, regarding the recent postponement of the president's visit to Ukraine. Earlier, the former Russian president had relayed a rumor, through a deepfake of a France 24 news segment, alleging that Kyiv was planning to assassinate Macron during his trip and blame Moscow for his death. The deepfake broadcast was shared by pro-Russian sites and accounts on social media. On Wednesday, in a tweet in French, Medvedev threatened France's "government chickens" with being "hacked to pieces by irate parents and snarling opposition members" if Macron were to send troops to Ukraine, which he renamed "Neonaziland."

After a long period of sitting on their hands, French authorities decided to hit back, denouncing the most obscene statements. Speaking on French station BFM-TV on Thursday, the vice president of the Russian Parliament Pyotr Tolstoy said France was governed "in part by perverts," an implicit reference to Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, who is openly gay. Asked by the journalist whether, in his eyes, "to be homosexual is to be special, even perverse," the close associate of Putin replied, "Absolutely." Lemoine, of the French Foreign Ministry, replied: "Pyotr Tolstoy obviously wants to frighten us. But the only reaction to his obscenities is indignation."

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