Yesterday, French daily Le Figaro reported that, immediately after the New York Times story broke that the Biden administration had dropped its opposition to the use of Western long-range missiles to strike Russia, both the “French and the British had authorized Ukraine to strike deep into Russian territory with their SCALP/Storm Shadow missiles.” For several months, the British have called for doing so, while Washington had balked.
Then this morning, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot, prior to a meeting of EU Foreign Ministers in Brussels, told the media that there had been no change in France’s position since May, when President Emmanuel Macron suggested that France was open to the idea of such use of Western missiles. As quoted by European Pravda, Barrot today described Macron’s position: “We openly said that this is an option that we will consider if it allows for strikes at targets from where Russia is currently carrying out aggressive attacks on Ukrainian territory.” Then Barrot said that France’s position has not changed since then. Assumedly, Barrot means that Paris is still open to the option but has not yet decided—but even this is left somewhat ambiguous.
