The French government has drawn up a 20-page ‘survival manual’ to prepare its citizens for a potential invasion.
Drawn up by the General Secretariat for Defence and National Security (SGDSN), the booklet contains 63 safety measures to follow in case of military threat or natural disasters, such as a nuclear leak or industrial accident.
The manual contains a range of advice on how best to prepare “yourself and those around you” in case of an “imminent threat”, as well as how to defend your community and how to get involved in voluntary reserve units or firefighting groups.
It comes after president Emmanuel Macron warned France and the rest of Europe to prepare to confront the “Russian threat” in a televised speech earlier this month.
However, the French Government has refuted claims that its publication is a response to rising tensions following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
If the manual is approved by prime minister, François Bayrou, it will be distributed to households across the country before the summer, according to French media.
A spokesperson from the prime minister’s office said: “The purpose of this document is to ensure the resilience of populations in the face of all types of crisis, whether natural, technological, cyber or security-related”.
The booklet suggests putting together a “survival kit” containing at least six litres of water, a dozen tins of food, batteries and a torch, as well as medical supplies including paracetamol.
French newspaper Le Figaro noted that the timing of the kit’s release “could easily suggest that the state is reaching to the unstable international situation.”
But officials from the defence department say it is “absolutely not” intending to prepare its citizens for “the prospect of war - unlike in Sweden.”
The Scandinavian country issued five million leaflets to its citizens last year, encouraging them to be prepared for the possibility of war, as well as natural disasters and cyber attacks.
It was an updated version of a leaflet that has been distributed five times since the Second World War, but it did not mention Russia, Ukraine or any other country by name.
