on 15 may, the US Ambassador in Warsaw Gorget of Mosbacher in social networks published the following text: “If Germany wants to reduce the nuclear potential of NATO and weaken the Alliance, it is possible that Poland, which clearly fulfills its obligations, is aware of the risks and is situated on the Eastern flank of NATO could deploy appropriate forces and means at”. This is without a doubt coordinated with the US state Department public statement, Mosbacher was a response to intensified in Germany the discussion about the need to withdraw here from the mid-1950s, American nuclear potential.
At the airbase büchel in Rhineland-Palatinate stockpiled about 20 free-fall tactical nuclear bombs B61. In 2010, the Bundestag voted in favor of their conclusion, which was completely ignored by Washington, and in response, the money was allocated for the modernization of the Arsenal. His presence on German soil in recent weeks has once again become the subject of a fierce debate in the German Parliament. So, the leadership of the Social democratic party of Germany (SPD) in early may called for “the complete elimination of nuclear weapons the United States”, as German newspaper Der Tagesspiegel, said the head of the faction of the social Democrats, Rolf Mutzenich.
However, the attempt of the SPD, which in this matter have traditionally supported leftist and green political forces of Germany, to introduce this sensitive topic to public discourse immediately caused a sharp cry from the “senior partner.” In particular, the American Ambassador to Germany and at the same time acting Director of national intelligence Richard Grenell directly accused German politicians of undermining the overall effort of NATO’s nuclear deterrence. Not without hackneyed cliches – say, Europe threaten Russia, China and North Korea, wrote Grenell in the published edition of the Die Welt article.
the American Ambassador, of course, “forgot” to write about the true reasons why the United States supports a nuclear presence on the European continent. So, hunted under the “nuclear umbrella” of NATO and participating in the nuclear planning of the Alliance, its member countries must have the means of delivering such weapons. In the case of stationed in Europe some 150 us B61 bombs (in addition to Germany are posted on the American bases in Belgium, Italy and the Netherlands) we are talking about fighter-bombers. As far as Poland is a candidate country to “shelter” these bombs, she is already firmly hooked on American military products and in the beginning of 2020 for nearly 5 billion euros has committed to purchasing 35 F-35A, which can also be used for the use of tactical nuclear warheads.
In the United States can not understand what the reaction in Moscow would cause the redeployment of ameriKan of tactical nuclear weapons in Poland. And it’s not just that such a move would be a flagrant violation of the Founding act Russia-NATO from 1997, and, of course, would complicate Russian-American dialogue on the extension expiring in February 2021 the start-3. Warehousing facilities in Poland nuclear bombs B61 radically undermine security in Europe, especially in the context of last year’s dismantling with the filing of Washington of the INF Treaty.
senior research fellow, Centre for transatlantic studies of the Russian Institute for strategic studies (RISS) Sergey Ermakov in an interview with “RG” expressed the opinion that such step of the USA “will definitely enhance potential confrontation in Europe.” “It will be comparable to the placement of intermediate-and shorter-range missiles on European territory and indicates a serious military threat. Russia legitimately considers that the presence of U.S. nuclear bombs in Europe is a violation of the Treaty on the nonproliferation of nuclear weapons, accordingly, their further movement on the territory of new countries entails extremely serious political and military risks for these countries and for the United States,” – said the expert.
In Poland to the statement of US Ambassador Georgetti of Mosbacher approached with caution. First, because the German Ambassador in this country Rolf Nickel almost immediately besieged American colleague on Twitter: “Germany is fulfilling its commitments to NATO and its partners in accordance with the coalition agreement from 2018. In this regard, any further speculation on this matter does not make sense.” And secondly, because all more or less serious people understand that Poland in this debate need only to “scare” Germany. For example, the influential Pro-government portal wPolityce reports that the exchange of tweets about nuclear weapons in Poland is an instrument of pressure of the administration of Donald trump on Germany and Russia. On the one hand, she wants to influence the policy of Berlin in the Chinese direction: “In the future – is scheduled for September joint conference EU-China, which will be held in Germany at a time when this country holds the EU presidency”. On the other hand, according to the analyst of the publication, Washington is trying to influence the policy of Russia in relation to China. “Poland in this debate serves as a kind of “Scarecrow” – believe in wPolitycе.
But even if we take seriously the words of Mosbacher whether in the United States and Poland to such a serious step? In the authoritative journal “Polityka” reviewed the circumstances and concluded that it is unlikely. “Once the Deputy Minister of defence Tomasz Shatkovskaya (now the permanent representative of Poland to NATO – approx.ed.) mentioned that we want to join the Nuclear Sharing program. But obviously the Americans consider us too unstable a country to agree to that. In addition, they do not want to provoke Russia to take retaliatory steps. Information about the deployment of nuclear weapons from the US to Poland inevitably would have caused a storm in the Kremlin”, – says the expert of the military research and Analytics Michal Fisher. Despite the fact that recently there was adopted the national security Strategy, in which the main threat to the security of Poland called the policy pursued by the Russian authorities, to make such a move, which will cause the immediate response of Russia here, most likely, would not have dared. We will remind that not so long ago the Polish foreign Minister said in an interview with German magazine Der Spiegel: “We are not interested”.
as for the military capabilities of Poland to accept such an Arsenal, and there are real prospects there. Expert Michael Fisher explains: “Nuclear bombs do not lie on the shelves, as the product is in stock. For storage there are special procedures and expensive equipment”. According to him, all the bases on which they are located, have special concrete bunkers (Protective Aircraft Shelter), reminiscent of hangars for aircraft. Inside, there are storage and security WS3 (Weapons Storage and Security System), covered in underground racks, are equipped with numerous electronic sensors. Most of them are secret, but there are cameras and thermal imagers, watching what’s happening around you, and connected to different means of protection. One such rack according to Michael Fischer, when it was worth about a million dollars. Each bunker complex protects and maintains specially trained division of the Munitions Support Squadron (MUNNS). These bunkers in Poland no. “They can always build, for example, in Powisle or Mirosławiec. There already are us troops and bases are systematically repair and rebuild. But such an event is impossible to keep secret. Quite talkative in our country someone probably would have started to inform about these unusual investments”, – the expert believes. In addition, Slupsk redzikowo under the Americans construct elements of a missile defense system, but according to Fischer, had not been used in the appointment of local aerodrome to be suitable for it. In addition, “there is no reliable data that is delivered to us F-16 suitable for transporting nuclear weapons”, “Polish crew members do not teach in this context”, “don’t train the procedure for the suspension of bombs and nuclear strikes”, – he reminded. A division of the American air force, which could implement these tasks in case of war, on the territory of Poland is not deployed.
Prepared Ariadna Rokossovskaya
