Russia Issues Nuke Threat to Poland

Nation 'exposed' to strike if it hosts US base, general warns
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 16, 2008 8:00 AM CDT
Russia Issues Nuke Threat to Poland
Russian General Anatoly Nogovitsyn warned yesterday that Poland's agreement to accept a US missile defense battery exposes the country to nuclear attack.   (AP Photo/Misha Japaridze)

A top Russian general warned yesterday that Poland would be "100% exposed" to nuclear attack if it follows through with plans to host a US missile defense system, reports the Times of London. The agreement "cannot go unpunished," the general warned in the first direct threat from the Kremlin since the fall of the Soviet Union.

Russian military doctrine allows nuclear weapons to be used "against the allies of countries having nuclear weapons if they in some way help them" as Poland plans to do, the general said. Poland agreed Thursday to host the missile shield system. The move, widely seen as a response to Russian military action in Georgia, has infuriated Moscow.
(More Russia stories.)

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