Poland’s pitch to host nuclear weapons cou,d result in increased tensions between NATO and Russia, and even cause the “end of the world, it has been claimed.
Polish President Andrzej Duda said in an interview on Monday: “If our allies decide to deploy nuclear arms on our territory as part of nuclear sharing, to reinforce NATO’s eastern flank, we are ready to do so.”
The statement has angered Russia. The Kremlin warned it would take steps to “ensure its security” if nuclear weapons and moved to Poland.
Journalist and author Peter Hitchens, who has been a vocal critic of NATO, believes the plan would only increase tensions between NATO and Russia.
He told Times Radio: “Hosting nuclear weapons is one thing, using them is another…the crucial thing is who controls them.
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“The principal doubt among all NATO members has been since the organisation was founded, as Charles de Gaulle put it, would the President of the United States sacrifice Chicago for Lyon or Frankfurt.
”Are they actually going to use nuclear weapons against the Eastern attack, knowing that that will result in a nuclear retaliation and possibly the end of the world?’
“The fact that they are there does not necessarily mean they will be used. But it is of course another powerful gesture in the strange policy of the US making conditions worse and more tense than they were 10 years ago.
“I’m puzzled that there isn’t another foreign policy faction in Washington saying ‘hang on, is this sensible?'”
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has commented on Vladimir Putin‘s aggression in Ukraine, saying that Russia won’t stop at Ukraine if it wins the war.
Ahead of a trip to Poland, the Prime Minister said: “Defending Ukraine against Russia’s brutal ambitions is vital for our security and for all of Europe.
“If Putin is allowed to succeed in this war of aggression, he will not stop at the Polish border.”
Tyler Mitchell