Poland’s deputy Prime Minister has claimed that his government would be open to hosting US nuclear weapons to protect against Russian aggression.
According to The Times:
The move, should it happen, would be a significant escalation in a new Cold War with Russia and would be viewed as a provocation by Putin.
Support for a US nuclear shield came yesterday from Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the country’s deputy prime minister and founder and leader of the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party, who is often dubbed Poland’s chief of state.
“Basically, it makes sense to expand nuclear sharing to the eastern flank,” he told the Welt am Sonntag newspaper, in a reference to Nato’s northeastern members Poland and the Baltic states.
“If the Americans asked us to store US nuclear weapons in Poland, we would be open to that. It would significantly increase deterrence towards Moscow.”
Poland is pushing for “a large operational Nato command in Poland”, Kaczynski said, such as the allied air command in the Netherlands at Brunssum, “where joint Nato operations can be planned and conducted”.
He said: “That would send a clear signal to Moscow: the Nato leadership is now also present in the east,” and urged Washington to increase troop numbers “from the present 100,000 soldiers up to 150,000 in the future due to Russia’s increasing aggression.
The US already has nuclear weapons in Italy, Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany and Turkey.