Zakharova says France condemns rioting at home but criticises crackdowns abroad

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova criticised French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday 18 October over his televised address on the violence that followed Saturday’s protests in France, RIA Novosti reported.

“So when the French wreck Paris, that requires uncompromising condemnation and tough measures, but when protesters wreck cities in other countries, one must watch in silence while rereading the Élysée Palace’s angry press releases about the unacceptability of suppressing protests. No,” Zakharova wrote on Telegram late on Sunday, Moscow time, according to RIA Novosti.

She called for “uniform standards” instead of what she described as “endless Western cheating” on human rights issues and “interference in the internal affairs of sovereign countries”.

Earlier on Sunday, Zakharova told the Russian TV channel Zvezda that accusations of Russian involvement in protests in EU countries were “disrespectful towards citizens” and described them as “the mantra about the so-called hand of the Kremlin”. “They come out with different demands… It is their internal affair,” she said, adding that EU governments should solve their own problems rather than “lecture others on how to live”.

On 13 October, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said the school protests in France had been exploited by “hostile narratives” from Russia, China and Iran, as well as by people associated with the Maga movement, The Guardian reported. “The Kremlin’s goal is explicitly stated: to put an end to our liberal democracies,” Barrot said.

The reports reviewed for this story did not include a response from the Élysée as of 10pm GMT on Sunday.