Following the seeming public squabble between French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron in Hanoi, Vietnam that has gone viral online, the Kremlin has casually mocked President Macron in a statement.
Although Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov deemed it “inappropriate” to comment on private matters, he however, noted that “a wife never slaps her husband without a reason.”
Peskov seized the opportunity to also critique France’s position on Russia, stating that Paris continues to adhere to ineffective pressure strategies and misinterprets Russia’s character.
Despite Macron dismissing the incident as a lighthearted marital interaction, it has garnered significant online attention.
In a video from their arrival in Vietnam on Sunday for a Southeast Asia tour, Brigitte Macron appeared to push her husband in the face before he descended the presidential plane. He stepped back, then recovered and waved to the cameras.
She briefly stayed out of sight behind the plane’s fuselage. The couple, married since 2007, then descended the steps together with Brigitte declining her husband’s arm.
“I was bickering, or rather joking, with my wife,” Macron told reporters in Hanoi. “It’s nothing.”
He noted this wasn’t the first time recent videos of him had been misinterpreted by what he called “crackpots.”
Macron clarified that a video showing him removing a white object from a table on a train in Ukraine depicted a tissue, not cocaine as suggested by some social media users. His office accused France’s enemies of spreading false information.
An Elysee official stated that in the latest video, the president and his wife were seen relaxing and sharing a laugh before the commencement of their trip.
“It was a moment of closeness.”
Macron’s visit to Vietnam, the first by a French president in nearly ten years, aims to enhance France’s presence in the region.
