Former Russian president Dimitry Medvedev has hit out at France's finance minister Bruno Le Maire after he claimed that Europe was waging economic war against Russia.
"We will bring about the collapse of the Russian economy," Le Maire told the Franceinfo broadcaster after France, the EU and other western governments said they would impose a new round of sanctions on Moscow.
"The economic and financial balance of power is totally in favour of the European Union which is in the process of discovering its own economic power," he said.
"We are waging total economic and financial war on Russia."
But Medvedev, who is deputy chair of the Russian Security Council, responded on Twitter that such rhetoric could have serious repercussions.
"Watch your tongue, gentlemen," said Medvedev who led Russia between 2008 and 2012 before becoming President Vladimir Putin's prime minister until 2020.
"And don't forget that in human history, economic wars quite often turned into real ones," he added.
Today, some French minister has said that they declared an economic war on Russia. Watch your tongue, gentlemen! And don’t forget that in human history, economic wars quite often turned into real ones
— Dmitry Medvedev (@MedvedevRussiaE) March 1, 2022
Le Maire later told AFP that his language had been inappropriate. "We are not in conflict with the Russian people," he added.
French President Emmanuel Macron has sought to keep open a dialogue with Putin, with the two men speaking again on Monday.
But French ministers have been using increasingly strident rhetoric to describe the western strategy of trying to strangle Russia's economy and cause pain for Putin's business allies.
Asset seizures
"The oligarchs need to watch out because the list of oligarchs that have been targeted by the EU is very large," French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told the BFM channel.
He said they were being hit not only in their share portfolios but also with the possibility of asset seizures.
"So if I was an oligarch, in Russia or France, I'd be worried," he added.
On Monday, the EU added more Kremlin-linked oligarchs and Putin's spokesman to its sanctions blacklist.
Among the high-profile names were Igor Sechin, head of the state oil giant Rosneft, and Nikolay Tokarev, boss of pipeline mammoth Transneft.
Three men ranked within Russia's 10 richest by Forbes were also added: metals magnate Alexei Mordashov, tycoon Alisher Usmanov, and businessman Gennady Timchenko.
Le Drian added: "I hope he (Putin) realises how the balance of power has shifted and that he has lost the information war."
(With AFP)
