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

The president of Poland, Andrzej Duda, has repeated his call for the US to base nuclear weapons on Polish soil.

In the presidential palace in Warsaw, he told me that it would make Poland stronger and safer, as it faces Russia.

Viewed from Poland, President Putin’s Russia is a clear and a present danger.

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

He condemned what he called Moscow’s imperial greed.

Positioning US nuclear weapons in Poland would be viewed by President Putin as a provocation.

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

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

“It’s the same Russia that’s attacking Ukraine today, who is an aggressor, who is murdering civilians, who is bombing down civilian settlements,” he told me.

“And it’s moving its nuclear weapons from the depths of Russia to Belarus.”

“This defensive tactic is a vital response to Russia’s behaviour, relocating nuclear weapons in the NATO area. Poland is ready to host this nuclear weapon.”

President Duda also welcomed proposals made by France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, to extend the French nuclear weapons umbrella to other Nato states.

The US already rotates about 10,000 troops at a time through Poland.

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

“Every strategic kind of infrastructure, American and Nato infrastructure, which we have on our soil is strengthening the inclination of the US and the North Atlantic Alliance to defend this territory.”

Poland spends almost 5% of its national income on defence. That is more than any other member of Nato, including the United States.

Last week, Poland’s prime minister, Donald Tusk, made a speech in parliament warning that a “profound change in American geopolitics” was putting both Poland and Ukraine into an “objectively more difficult situation”.

Prime Minister Tusk called for further increases in Polish defence spending and proposed that Poland should consider reaching for “opportunities related to nuclear weapons.”

Mr Tusk is on the centre left, 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 agree immediately to the 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine, Mr Duda said he was confident that the US president had a plan, as he put it, to “to encourage the Russian side to act reasonably”.

Mr Duda will not criticise Mr Trump nor accept that his actions and words have cast a doubt on the US commitment to Article 5, the mutual defence clause of the North Atlantic Treaty.

But he has much harsher words for Putin’s Russia than Donald Trump ever uses.

And he backs calls for the EU to seize Russian assets worth around 200 billion euros that have been frozen in European banks.

“I believe it is obvious that Russian assets collected and locked in banks in Western Europe should be used to support Ukraine, and it should be a double support,” he says.

“First of all, Ukraine should be supported in defending itself against the Russian aggression. And secondly, this should be used to support the rebuilding of Ukraine.”

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