US nuclear weapons in Poland would be ‘deterrent’ for Russia

Poland President Andrzej Duda has repeated his call to the United States to base nuclear weapons on Polish soil.

In the presidential palace of Warsaw, he told me that it would make Poland stronger and safer, because it is confronted with Russia.

Seen from Poland, President Putin’s Russia is a clear and current danger.

President Duda, who is also commander -in -chief of the expanding Polish armed forces, said that Russia today was at least as aggressive as the former Soviet Union.

He condemned what he called the imperial greed of Moscow.

The positioning of American nuclear weapons in Poland would be considered by President Putin as a provocation.

But President Duda considers the proposal as a defensive measure to strengthen deterrence.

He said it would be a response to President Putin’s decision in 2023 to deploy Russian tactical nuclear weapons in Bélarus, which has a border with Poland and Ukraine.

“It is the same Russia who attacks Ukraine today, who is an attacker, who murdered civilians, who bomb civilians,” he told me.

“And he moves his nuclear weapons from the depths of Russia in Bélarus.”

“This defensive tactic is a vital response to the behavior of Russia, relocating nuclear weapons in the NATO region. Poland is ready to host this nuclear weapon.”

President Duda also welcomed the proposals made by the French president, Emmanuel Macron, to extend the umbrella of French nuclear weapons to other NATO states.

The United States is already running around 10,000 soldiers at the same time through Poland.

When asked how the presence of nuclear weapons would make Poland safer, Duda said that it would deepen America’s commitment to Polish security.

“Each strategic type of infrastructure, American infrastructure and NATO, which we have on our soil strengthens the inclination of the United States and the North Atlantic Alliance to defend this territory.”

Poland spends almost 5% of its national defense income. It is more than any other NATO member, including the United States.

Last week, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk delivered a speech to Parliament warning that a “deep change in American geopolitics” put both Poland and Ukraine in a “objectively more difficult situation”.

Prime Minister Tusk called for an additional increase in Polish defense expenses and proposed that Poland plans to seek “nuclear weapons opportunities”.

Mr. Tusk is on the left at the center, unlike President Duda who is on the right and considers himself a friend of Donald Trump.

Referring to President Putin’s refusal on Thursday to immediately agree with the 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine, Duda said he was convinced that the American president had a plan, as he said, “to encourage the Russian party to act reasonably”.

Mr. Duda will not criticize Mr. Trump nor will only accept his actions and his words have put a doubt about the American commitment to article 5, the mutual defense clause of the North Atlantic Treaty.

But he has much harder words for Putin’s Russia that Donald Trump uses.

And he supports the EU calls to grasp Russian assets worth around 200 billion euros that were frozen in European banks.

“I think it is obvious that the Russian assets collected and locked in banks in Western Europe should be used to support Ukraine, and this should be double support,” he said.

“First of all, Ukraine should be supported to defend itself against Russian attack. And secondly, this should be used to support the reconstruction of Ukraine.”

“I cannot imagine that after the destruction of Ukraine, Russia can simply take this money without paying war and compensation repairs.”