Ex-Russian president comments on Polish nuclear request

1 Jul, 2023 14:52 / Updated 1 year ago
Dmitry Medvedev has warned a nuclear war could break out should the US deploy weapons of mass destruction to Poland

A nuclear war could start if the US accommodates Poland’s desire for the placing of nuclear weapons there, former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev has said. Earlier this week, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki called on NATO to include Warsaw in the bloc’s Nuclear Sharing Program.

In a Telegram post on Saturday, Medvedev shared his response to a request for comment by TASS.

The former head of state described the Polish leadership as “patented degenerates.” With such people in power in Warsaw, the presence of nuclear weapons in the country would mean that they “will be used.

Medvedev, who currently serves as the deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, noted that such a scenario would have a positive side to it, too.

All dudas, morawieckis, kaczynskis and other scum will disappear,” Medvedev wrote, apparently referring to the Polish president, premier, and the head of the ruling Law and Justice party.

Speaking to reporters in Brussels on Friday, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said: “Due to the fact that Russia intends to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, we are… appealing to… NATO to [allow us] take part in the Nuclear Sharing Program.

Launched in 2009, the NATO Nuclear Sharing Program has seen US B-61 nuclear bombs deployed to various locations around Europe.

Moscow and Minsk first revealed they were in talks over the nuclear deployment to Belarus back in March, with the agreement finalized in May.

In mid-June, President Putin told his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko that the preparations would be completed in early July, with a number of low-yield warheads already in place.

Around the same time, the Belarusian head of state claimed there was a threat directed at his country, which he had to “counter.” Lukashenko stressed that he would not hesitate to use the Russian nuclear weapons in case of aggression against Belarus.

Explaining its decision, Moscow, for its part, has argued that the deployment would be no different from what the US has been doing for decades by keeping parts of its nuclear arsenal in non-nuclear nations, such as Türkiye, Belgium, or Italy.