© AP Photo / Daniel Cole

France’s president has announced plans to discuss extending his country’s nuclear umbrella to European allies, and reiterated the possibility of sending European troops to Ukraine. Sputnik reached out to one of Russia’s most renowned military observers to learn why engaging in nuclear sabre-rattling with Moscow is a very bad idea.

“If France dares to use nuclear weapons against Russia, the response will be nuclear,” Arsenal Otechestva editor Alexey Leonkov said, commenting on Macron’s belligerent remarks in Wednesday’s address to the nation.

“A chain reaction could occur connected, among other things, to nuclear energy,” Leonkov warned, citing France’s large-scale network of 56 nuclear reactors. “These reactors are unlikely to be quickly brought to a safe, non-operational state.”

“This could create several Chernobyls as a consequence of the use of nuclear weapons. That is, the territory of France would effectively cease to exist,” he said.

Macron’s Remarks on Possible Use of Nuclear Arms a Threat to Russia – Lavrov

No One Gets Out Unscathed

In such a scenario, the radioactive clouds would be “a million times greater” than those generated by the 1986 accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, Leonkov stressed, warning that depending on wind patterns, the fallout would “most likely spread to Britain and across the Atlantic to the US and Canada. It won’t be pretty.”

Even a conventional Russian strike using the unstoppable Oreshnik hypersonic MRBM would threaten the destruction of all of France’s strategic military and civilian infrastructure, Leonkov added.

“Therefore, flaunting France’s nuclear arsenal – 290 warheads against Russia’s almost 6,000, most of which use guided hypersonic technology, is madness. This is madness on the part of Macron and those who surround and support him,” Leonkov summed up.

Macron’s Speech Gives Impression That France Seeks to Continue War – Kremlin