Washington is not involved in any discussions with Warsaw about stationing nuclear weapons on Polish soil under the NATO nuclear weapons sharing program.
The information was given by White House National Security Council Strategic Communications Coordinator John Kirby when speaking to Polish Radio RMF24 on May 23.
“I have nothing to say, we don’t discuss those things and I don’t have any US policy changes to discuss today,” Kirby said, responding to a related question.
Earlier, in an interview published in the Polish daily Fakt on April 22, Polish President Andrzej Duda said that Warsaw had repeatedly discussed with Washington the possibility of deploying nuclear weapons in Poland under the NATO Nuclear Weapons Sharing program and expressed readiness to do so if necessary.
Commenting on President Duda's statement, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said such matters were up to the government to decide, while the Polish Foreign Ministry said the Cabinet had not yet discussed the issue.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova warned that US nuclear weapons would immediately attract the attention of the Russian General Staff, and they would be taken into account in military planning, if they were deployed in Poland.
An F-35A Lightning II receives fuel from a KC-10 Extender. The F-35 is a stealth multirole fighter certified to carry nuclear bombs. Poland has signed a contract to buy 32 of these fifth-generation fighters. Photo: Airforce Technology
According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), the NATO Nuclear Weapons Sharing program originated with the US deployment of nuclear weapons to West Germany and the United Kingdom in 1955.
By 1957, Washington had amassed an arsenal and began training members of the military alliance how to mount, target, and launch nuclear artillery, rockets, missiles, and air bombs in wartime.
Several NATO members currently host US B61 bombs on their soil, have aircraft capable of delivering them and train for such a scenario – all of which would require approval from the US President, the UK Prime Minister and the Nuclear Planning Group.
The Nuclear Planning Group is the policy body responsible for making decisions on nuclear weapons at NATO and is chaired by the NATO Secretary General. It receives advice on nuclear issues from the US-chaired High Level Group and focuses on practical issues, including planning and force posture as well as issues related to… safety, security and effectiveness. Both mechanisms are open to all NATO alliance members, with France the only one not participating.
For Poland, a NATO agreement to deploy nuclear weapons on its territory would require consensus from the High Level Group, usually in the form of a recommendation report. The Nuclear Planning Group would then consider the recommendation report and either approve it explicitly or through a “silent” procedure, whereby recommendations are adopted if there are no objections.
Poland is seeking a more active role in NATO’s nuclear weapons-sharing mission. This could come in a number of ways, including hosting B61 nuclear weapons on its territory, certifying the F-35A fighter jet to carry nuclear weapons, or taking a more prominent role in decision-making regarding NATO’s nuclear doctrine .
Minh Duc (According to TASS, IISS)
Source: https://www.nguoiduatin.vn/my-noi-khong-thao-luan-ve-viec-trien-khai-vu-khi-nhat-nhan-toi-ba-lan-a664977.html
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