Nuclear weapons in Poland: the hypothesis is enough to raise the level of tension in the international framework dominated by the war between Ukraine and Russia. Warsaw says it is ready to host NATO nuclear weapons, as part of the plan to strengthen the Alliance’s eastern front, and Moscow immediately responds. The topic could become topical again in these hours, with the announced visit of Jens Stoltenberg to Warsaw.
The NATO Secretary General will see the Polish Prime Minister, Donald Tusk. British Prime Minister Rushi Sunak, one of Ukraine’s main European allies, will also be present in the Polish capital.
The summit could be an opportunity to delve deeper into the concepts outlined by Polish President Andrzej Duda, who has opened up to the hypothesis of deploying ‘NATO-branded’ nuclear weapons on Polish territory. The operation would be a response to Russia’s deployment of weapons in nearby Kaliningrad and Belarus, as the Head of State explained in an interview with a local newspaper ‘Fakt’: “If our allies decide to deploy nuclear weapons within the framework of nuclear sharing on our territory to strengthen the security of NATO’s eastern flank, we are ready to do so.”
Poland borders both the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad and Russia’s ally Belarus. Duda has just returned from a trip to the United States, held meetings at the UN and discussed the war in Ukraine with former US President Donald Trump. In March he visited Washington, where he met President Joe Biden. Ties with the USA, therefore, are increasingly solid and discussions are frequent: discussions on nuclear cooperation between Poland and the United States have been ongoing “for some time”, he said. “I must admit that when I was asked to talk about it, I declared our readiness. Russia is increasingly militarizing the Kaliningrad district. It recently transferred its nuclear weapons to Belarus,” he further stressed.
Poland’s openness, of course, did not go unnoticed in Moscow. Russia already has to deal with the enlargement of NATO to include Sweden and Finland. Now, Vladimir Putin risks seeing nuclear weapons not far from his territory. A further element of alarm for the Kremlin, in a context already characterized by the American decision to send weapons and military aid to Ukraine for 61 billion dollars. “Today, the United States and its NATO client states still dream of inflicting a ‘strategic defeat’ on Russia and are ready to continue their policy of deterrence towards our country ‘down to the last Ukrainian’. At the same time, the “The West stands on the dangerous brink of a direct military confrontation between nuclear powers, which could have catastrophic consequences,” said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
According to the top Russian diplomat, it is particularly worrying that the three Western nuclear powers are among the main sponsors of the Kiev regime and among the main promoters of various incendiary moves. “This could create serious strategic risks and increase the level of nuclear threat,” Lavrov noted.
Tags: Poland NATO nuclear weapons arriving Russia alarm reaction
