MOSCOW, February 27. /TASS/. The attack on the Russian Consulate General in Marseille was a direct result of Paris fanning the flames of hatred towards Moscow, said Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.
"There really was a terrorist attack in France the other day. But it was directed against our country. The Consulate General of the Russian Federation in Marseille was targeted in the attack. It was only by luck that no one was injured," the diplomat noted.
"And this crime was a direct result of their inciting hatred against Russia and its people, including via statements by French officials."
In this way, Zakharova responded to a comment by French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu, who, speaking about "Russia's methods of conducting hybrid warfare," speculated that "Slavic and Chechen networks" would be used to "plot terrorist attacks on French territory."
"Everyone has already become accustomed to the aggressive anti-Russian rhetoric of the French leaders, who, with a determination that would be better used elsewhere, are trying to demonize our country and paint us as an enemy to the masses," she said.
"Moreover, in recent days, these insinuations have increased noticeably, likely an attempt to somehow justify all the new sanctions against Russia and justify plans to send NATO troops to Ukraine under the guise of peacekeepers."
The diplomat pointed to a recent statement by President Emmanuel Macron, "who called Russia nothing less than an 'existential threat' to France and Europe." However, "xenophobic, bordering on racist statements by Lecornu are too much even here," she said.
"The desire to stigmatize entire ethnic groups, holding them collectively responsible for non-existent terrorist crimes, thus inciting ethnic hatred in society, is abhorrent," Zakharova said.
"And we hear this from a representative of a country that calls itself the homeland of human rights. I wish Lecornu would try to say something similar about other diasporas living in France. It seems that the minister was infected by Kiev's ideology after too much communication with its neo-Nazi regime."
She also asked Lecornu "what ‘Slavic networks’ are, who exactly he means."