International editor
BBCPoland President Andrzej Duda has repeated his call for the United States to base nuclear weapons on Polish soil.
At the Warsaw Presidential Palace, he told me that I would make Poland stronger and more secure as he faces Russia.
Seen from Poland, President Putin’s Russia is a clear and current danger.
President Duda, who is also commander -in -chief of the fast -expanding Polish armed forces, said that today’s Russia is at least as aggressive as the former Soviet Union.
He condemned what he called Moscow imperial greed.
Positioning U.S. 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 the deterrent.
He said it would be a response to President Putin’s decision in 2023 to deploy Russian tactical weapons in Belarus, which has a border with Poland and Ukraine.
« It is Russia itself that attacks Ukraine today, who is a civilian murderer, who bombs civil settlements, » he told me.
« And he is moving his nuclear weapons from the depths of Russia to Belarus. »
« This defensive tactic is a vital response to Russia’s behavior, moving nuclear weapons to NATO area. Poland is ready to house this nuclear weapon. »
The President Duda also welcomed the proposals of the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, to extend the French nuclear weapons umbrella to other NATO states.
Pictures of gettyThe United States already revolves around 10,000 soldiers through Poland.
When asked how the presence of nuclear weapons would be more secure Poland, Mr. Duda said he would deepen America’s commitment to Polish security.
« Each strategic type of infrastructure, North -American and NATO infrastructure, which we have in our soil, strengthens the inclination of the United States and the northern Atlantic alliance to defend this territory. »
Poland spends almost 5% of its national revenue on defense. This is more than any other NATO member, including the United States.
Last week, Poland Prime Minister Donald Tusk gave a speech to Parliament, warning that a « deep change in North -American geopolitical » was putting both Poland and Ukraine in an « objectively more difficult situation ».
Prime Minister Tusk requested more of the expense of Polish defense and proposed that Poland be proposed to achieve « nuclear weapons opportunities ».
Tusk is in the left center, unlike the Duda President to the right and is considered a friend of Donald Trump.
Pictures of gettyIn reference to President Putin’s refusal on Thursday to agree immediately to the cessation of 30 -day fire in Ukraine, Mr. Duda said he was sure that the President of the United States had a plan, he said, to « encourage the Russian side to act reasonably. »
Duda will not criticize Mr. Trump or accept that his actions and words have put a doubt on the United States’s commitment to article 5, the mutual defense clause in the North Atlantic Treaty.
But he has much tougher words for Putin’s Russia than Donald Trump he never uses.
And it supports the Call to the EU to seize Russian assets worth about 200 billion euros that have frozen in European banks.
« I think it is obvious that Russian assets collected and locked in Western Europe should be used to support Ukraine and should be a double support, » he says.
« First of all, Ukraine should be supported to defend Russian aggression. And secondly, it should be used to support the reconstruction of Ukraine. »
« I cannot imagine that after the destruction of Ukraine, Russia can simply get this money without paying war reparations and compensation. »
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