President Duda: Polish soldiers ready to help Lithuania if need be

The exercises, called Brave Griffin, involved more than 1500 troops, according to the Lithuanian military. The exercises included U.S. and Portuguese forces.

The Suwałki Gap, a sparsely populated area of Polish territory lying between Belarus and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, is of strategic importance because its takeover by Russia would isolate the Baltic states from the rest of NATO.

"This is a very important exercise. It's a proof that Polish soldiers are prepared, if need be, to provide help to our Lithuanian ally and neighbor," Duda said during the drills.

He added that, over the years, Russia has been relocating Iskander mobile short-range ballistic missile systems to its semi-exclave of Kaliningrad, situated on the Baltic Sea. "It is not a secret to anyone," Duda said. "Most likely they also have nuclear weapons there."

Duda accused Russia of breaking international treaties on spreading nuclear weapons. "It is Russia who today relocates its nuclear weapons to Belarus, therefore I have no doubt a reaction from NATO countries is necessary," he stressed.

"We need an adequate answer and, therefore, I think that the whole NATO area should be tightly protected with nuclear weapons.

''I think that the nuclear sharing programme should be extended to the countries on the NATO's eastern flank," he argued.

Duda said on Thursday (April 25) he had invited Prime Minister Donald Tusk for talks on May 1 about the possibility of nuclear weapons from NATO states being deployed in Poland.

Speaking at the drill, Nauseda said the idea of deploying nuclear weapons would be a deterrent to Russia. "The idea of deploying nuclear weapons is not warmongering, it is not a threat to Russia," he said.

"The Russian propaganda mill is churning. And, naturally, in such cases, there are always threats from their side. But the threats seem to indicate only that this idea is indeed a significant deterrent and naturally makes Russian politicians nervous," the Lithuanian president stressed.

Speaking about Brave Griffin, Nauseda said the drills "went very smoothly". He said ithe exercise demostrated that Polish, Lithuanian, U.S., and Portuguese forces can cooperate well and achieve their goals.

"This is a further demonstration of how close our countries are, how close and strong allies we are, and how our cooperation in various spheres of life is increasingly moving into the area of military cooperation.