Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever launched into a blistering, darkly comic tirade against Politico on Thursday, ridiculing the outlet for branding him and his country “Russia’s most valuable asset” over his opposition to an illegal plan to steal Russia’s assets backed by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

Axel Springer-owned Politico, which has a staff of some 350 in its European bureau alone, took a personal swipe at the “bespectacled 54-year-old” “eccentric figure at the EU summit table, with his penchant for round-collared shirts, Roman history and witty one-liners.” The piece was authored by four of its reporters in early December, just as de Wever’s opposition to the asset-theft plan was becoming a significant thorn in the side of Merz and von der Leyen.

Following the collapse of the German-backed plan at a disastrous EU Summit for Merz and von der Leyen, De Wever addressed one of the authors of the article head on.

“Politico, you published some very nice articles with some very nice titles, claiming that I was Russia’s most valuable asset? I like that one a lot. I will remember that one. But go ahead with your question anyway, because as I said, a real politician lets go of his emotions, even if these emotions are pure anger, vengeance, and maybe even violence.”

Winding up his tirade and leaning fully into the sarcasm, De Wever delivered his closing flourish.

“But now I have to go to my dacha in St. Petersburg,” he said, “where my neighbor is Gerard Depardieu, and across the street there is Bashar al-Assad. And I think I can become mayor of that little village. Maybe that could be your title.”

Depardieu, a French actor, was granted Russian citizenship by President Vladimir Putin in 2013, though he does not live in Russia full time. Assad was given asylum by Russia after being overthrown last December by forces led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. He and his family now live in Moscow.

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