Florian Philippot, the leader of the French Patriots party, has lashed out at outgoing US President Joe Biden over his reported approval of Ukraine’s long-range missile strikes deep inside Russia.
By authorizing such strikes, "the deep state and its puppet Biden are trying to trigger World War Three before [Donald] Trump comes to power," Philippot wrote on his X page.
"We expected this kind of thing: their madness knows no bounds! Reasonable people will have to take over and get rid of NATO once and for all!" he pointed out.
The New York Times earlier cited unnamed sources as saying that Biden authorized "the first use" of Ukraine’s US-supplied long-range ATACMS missiles deep into Russian territory. The NYT called the decision "a major change in US policy," which "divided" Biden advisers. Neither Biden nor the White House have yet commented on the matter.
This was followed by France's Le Figaro newspaper claiming that France and the UK have also allegedly allowed the Kiev regime to strike at Russian territory using their long-range weapons.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova for her part, recalled that President Vladimir Putin had already shared his thoughts on possible Western approval for Ukraine to conduct strikes deep within Russian soil.
In an interview with Russian television in September, Putin said that allowing the Zelensky regime to strike Russia with ATACMS missiles will actually mean NATO's direct participation in the Ukraine conflict.
He added that if a decision allowing the strikes is made, Moscow will make “appropriate decisions in response to the threats that will be posed to us.”