Photo: Kenzo Tribouillard Agence France-Presse NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg (right) welcomes Polish President Andrzej Duda (left) during a press conference at NATO Headquarters in Brussels on March 14, 2024.
France Media Agency in Warsaw
Posted at 12:06 p.m. Updated at 5:09 p.m.
- Europe
Poland is ready to welcome nuclear weapons on its territory if NATO, of which it is a member, decides to strengthen its eastern flank in the face of Russia's deployment of new weapons in neighboring Kaliningrad and Belarus, the Polish president said in an interview published Monday.
“If our allies decided to deploy nuclear weapons within the framework of nuclear sharing on our territory in order to strengthen the security of the eastern flank of the “NATO, we are ready to do it,” Andrzej Duda told the popular daily Fakt.
When asked about this possibility, the Kremlin spokesperson said on Monday that Russia would guarantee its “security” if this were to happen.
“The military will of course analyze the situation and, in any case, take all necessary retaliatory measures to guarantee our security,” Dmitry Peskov told the press.
President Duda, who is currently in Canada after a visit to the United States, stressed Monday evening that no decision on this matter had been made.
Potential nuclear sharing “would certainly strengthen our position and security,” he told Polish media during his trip.
“That is why we are raising the issue, but I want to emphasize very strongly here, so that there is no doubt, that no decision has been made on this matter.”
In his interview with the daily Fakt, the Polish head of state further indicated that the question of a potential deployment of nuclear weapons in Poland had been the subject of discussions between Poland and the United States “for a long time. some time.”
“I've touched on this topic several times before,” he said. Mr. Duda met his American counterpart Joe Biden in March.
According to Mr. Duda, “Russia is increasingly militarizing the Kaliningrad enclave. It is in the process of transferring its nuclear weapons to Belarus”, two territories which are neighbors of Poland.
In June 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that he had transferred in Belarus the first nuclear weapons.
Difficult cohabitation
Tuesday, the first Minister Donald Tusk is due to meet his British counterpart Rishi Sunak and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in Warsaw.
Questioned by journalists in Warsaw on Monday, Mr. Tusk said stated that he wished “to know all the circumstances that led the [Polish] president to make this statement.”
Since the electoral victory of Donald Tusk's pro-European coalition in October, Poland has been going through a delicate period of cohabitation, with Mr. Duda being a close ally of the former populist nationalist power.
“I am very keen that Poland lives in security, that it is as well armed as possible, but I would also like any possible initiative to be, first of all, very well prepared by the persons who are responsible for it”, said Mr. Tusk.
According to the Polish Constitution, the President of the Republic is formally the supreme leader of the armies exercising his functions “by the intermediary” of the Minister of Defense. In the area of foreign policies, he is required to “collaborate with the Prime Minister and responsible ministers.”
“I look forward to a meeting with Mr. President Duda,” Mr. Tusk said.
The two politicians have often clashed on domestic policy, but their views on support for Ukraine and the Russian threat have remained largely similar.
At the Vilnius Summit in 2023, Allies reaffirmed that NATO would do “whatever is necessary to ensure the credibility, effectiveness, safety and security of its nuclear deterrent mission, including continuing to modernize its nuclear capabilities and update its planning process.”