Lithuania is interested in partnering with Poland to set up a regional logistics centre for High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) ammunition, President Gitanas Nausėda said on Friday.
Nausėda was speaking after a meeting with his Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda. The two leaders observed the Brave Griffin 24-II exercise earlier on Friday.
“We talked specifically about HIMARS systems,” the Lithuanian president said. “Both Lithuania and Poland intend to acquire these systems. They have already acquired them, but they intend to acquire more in the future, especially given that Poland also has plans to produce ammunition.”
“We’d like to cooperate; my proposal was in that direction, toward creating a regional logistical centre,” he added.
According to Nausėda, Lithuania is also interested in participating in joint procurement processes with Poland.
In late 2021, Lithuania signed a 495-million-dollar contract with the United States to purchase HIMARS systems.
The Lithuanian Armed Forces are planning to integrate these systems in coordination with allies, especially neighbouring Estonia, Latvia, and Poland.
The first HIMARS deliveries are expected in 2025.
Nuclear deterrent in Poland
With Poland saying it is ready to host NATO's nuclear weapons, the Lithuanian president also described the idea as “a significant deterrent”.
“The idea of deploying nuclear weapons is not warmongering or threatening Russia; it’s an element of the deterrence system, which should act as a really significant deterrent factor,” Nausėda told reporters.
Poland’s readiness to join NATO’s nuclear sharing program was announced by President Duda during his visit to the United States this month.
In response, the Kremlin said that it would take “all the necessary steps to ensure security” if nuclear weapons were stationed in Poland.
“The Russian propaganda mill is churning,” Nausėda said. “And, naturally, we always hear threats from their side in such cases. But these threats only confirm that this idea is indeed a significant deterrent and naturally makes Russian politicians nervous.”
Nuclear sharing is part of NATO’s nuclear deterrence policy. It gives non-nuclear member states access to nuclear warheads.
As part of nuclear sharing arrangements, US nuclear weapons have been deployed in Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Turkey since 2009.
Duda, who observed a Suwalki Gap military exercise in the southern district of Alytus together with Nausėda, said that “any arguments from Russia are worthless because they are the ones who violate international agreements”.
“This is an adequate response, because the whole NATO territory, in our understanding, must be defended appropriately, adequately, so it is very logical that a nuclear system should be relocated to NATO’s eastern flank,” the Polish president said.
“We, as one of these countries, have declared our readiness to host this weapon,” he added.
According to Duda, the deployment of nuclear weapons in Poland would be a response to Russia’s militarisation in Kaliningrad and the stationing of tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus.
Newsletter
Every Friday morning.
