Poland suggests hosting US nuclear weapons amid growing fears of Putin’s threats
Poland says it has asked to have US nuclear weapons based on its territory, amid growing fears that Vladimir Putin could resort to using nuclear arms in Ukraine to stave off a rout of his invading army.
The request from the Polish president, Andrzej Duda, is widely seen as symbolic, as moving nuclear warheads closer to
Russia would make them more vulnerable and less militarily useful, according to experts. Furthermore, the White House has said it had not received such a request.
“We’re not aware of this issue being raised and would refer you to the government of
Poland,” a US official said.
Duda’s announcement appears to be the latest example of nuclear signalling as the US and its allies seek to deter Putin from the first nuclear use in battle since 1945, while preparing potential responses if deterrence fails that would have maximum punitive impact while containing the risk of escalation to all-out nuclear war.
Previous war games conducted by US administrations have shown that is a fine, and fuzzy, line to tread, given the uncertainty over Putin’s state of mind, and his record of giant miscalculations over
Ukraine.
Duda’s remarks on basing nuclear weapons followed changes in the constitution of neighbouring Belarus that would allow Russian nuclear weapons to be based on its territory.
The Polish president said there was “a potential opportunity” for Poland to take part in “nuclear sharing”, by which pilots from the host country are trained to fly missions carrying US nuclear bombs, which are stored on their territory.
“We have spoken with American leaders about whether the United States is considering such a possibility. The issue is open,”
Duda told Gazeta Polska.
Moving US nuclear weapons into Poland could be a violation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and the Nato-Russia Founding Act in 1997, after the end of the Cold War in which Nato stated it had no plan to deploy nuclear weapons on the territory of new members. Russia has meanwhile violated its own commitments under the act
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/05/poland-us-nuclear-wars-russia-putin-ukraine
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