ISTANBUL

Russia has said French President Emmanuel Macron "openly admitted" that the West not only tried to interfere in Moscow's internal affairs, but was also trying to change the government.

“He (Macron) endlessly stuffed himself into interlocutors with the Russian leadership, knowing that a campaign was launched against the country for an unconstitutional change of power,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Telegram on Sunday.

Zakharova referred to an interview by Macron with French media late Saturday, during which he noted that France "never" wanted the “total” defeat of Russia unlike others and that this has never been their position since the start of the war in Ukraine and it will never be, and she questioned his use of the word “never.”

“About ‘never’: France did not begin with Macron, but the remains of Napoleon, revered at the state level, rest in the center of Paris. France - and Russia - should understand,” Zakharova said.

Zakharova further noted that while France may have resisted Russia’s definition as an adversary in all NATO documents, it “could not do anything and stood in solidarity with it (NATO).”

“The supply of weapons against the background of statements about the inadmissibility of Russia's victory leaves no other logical conclusion, except for one thing - they (the West) want us to lose,” she said, adding they should remember all this when told about “friendships and a unifying agenda.”