TOKYO, November 21. /TASS/. US President Joe Biden’s decision on the use of ATACMS tactical ballistic missiles for strikes inside Russia is a dangerous act of provocation, Muneo Suzuki, a member of Japan’s upper house of parliament, told TASS.
"This is a very dangerous and erroneous decision," he noted. Suzuki stressed that, as the outgoing president, Biden should have done his best to facilitate a ceasefire in Ukraine. "Instead, he is taking such provocative steps. I think he doesn't deserve to be a leader at all," the Japanese lawmaker concluded.
Earlier, Suzuki emphasized on his blog that the decision that this decision by Biden on the tail-end of his presidency looked like "a last gasp." He used a Japanese expression describing a situation where cornered animals, namely ferrets, employ their oil glands to spread a strong smell in an attempt to escape. "Isn’t it mad to make a move that only prolongs the war?" the Japanese legislator said, adding that he supported the idea of establishing a ceasefire in Ukraine as soon as possible.
The New York Times reported on November 17, citing sources, that Biden had authorized the use of US-supplied ATACMS missiles to launch attacks inside Russia from Ukraine. Meanwhile, the US administration has not made any official statements to either confirm or deny these reports. Top EU diplomat Josep Borrell, in turn, said that some European Union countries had also allowed Ukraine to use their weapons for strikes deep inside Russia. Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned on November 19 that Moscow’s revised nuclear doctrine provided for a nuclear response to the use of Western non-nuclear missiles against Russia. Earlier, Peskov noted that Western countries’ decision indicated "a qualitatively new phase" of tensions.