RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin hit out at his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron over his handling of the yellow vests protests after criticism was raised over a clampdown on demonstrations in Moscow.

Mr Putin was speaking at a joint press conference in southern France where the pair held a meeting ahead of this week’s G7 summit of world leaders in Biarritz.

He told the French president that he didn’t want to see a yellow vests scenario develop in Russia, saying that France had a “concerning level of violence.”

“We all know about the events linked to the so-called yellow vests during which, according to our calculations, 11 people were killed and 2,500 injured,” Mr Putin said.

Russia’s president snapped back after Mr Macron raised public criticism over weeks of protests in Moscow.

“We called this summer for freedom of protest, freedom of speech, freedom of opinion and the freedom to run in elections, which should be fully respected in Russia like for any member of the Council of Europe,” Mr Macron said.

France has been warned over its heavy-handed response to the protests which started last November over a rise in fuel prices.

The so-called yellow vests, named after the high-vis jackets motorists are required to keep in their vehicles, have taken to the streets every Saturday since.

In February, the UN warned that protesters’ rights had been “disproportionately curtailed” with “more than 1,700 injured as a result of the protests across the country.”

Police have come under scrutiny with investigations initiated after attacks on protesters using controversial “flash ball” riot guns that fire rubber ball-shaped projectiles and dispersal “sting ball” grenades.

In May public prosecutor Remy Heitz announced criminal charges would be brought against a number of police officers “between now and the end of the year” following investigations into 174 incidents.