Minister of the Interior and Administration, Tomasz Siemoniak, who also oversees special services, emphasized that such discussions should take place behind closed doors.
President Duda urged Trump to place nuclear warheads in Poland: FT
Polish President Andrzej Duda, in a Thursday interview with the British daily Financial Times, called on the U.S. to deploy American nuclear weapons on Polish territory.
In his view, nuclear weapons in Poland would serve as a deterrent against potential Russian aggression.
"Call from Andrzej Duda aimed at deterring future Russian aggression likely to be viewed as highly provocative in Moscow," Financial Times assessed.
NATO should shift its infrastructure east
"The borders of NATO moved east in 1999, so 26 years later there should also be a shift of the NATO infrastructure east. For me, this is obvious," Duda said, adding, "I think it’s not only that the time has come, but that it would be safer if those weapons were already here."
His remarks align with an observation made on social media by Shashank Joshi, defense editor of The Economist, who noted, "Andrzej Duda said it was 'obvious' that Donald Trump could redeploy US nuclear warheads stored in western Europe or the US to Poland, a proposal the Polish leader said he recently discussed with Keith Kellogg, US special envoy for Ukraine."
Poland's security and NATO nuclear strategy
President Duda reiterated his support for expanding NATO’s Nuclear Sharing program and emphasized that the decision to deploy U.S. nuclear weapons in Poland lies with President Donald Trump, citing Russia’s 2023 deployment of nuclear weapons in Belarus as a precedent.
He rejected Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s proposal for Poland to develop its own nuclear arsenal, arguing it would take decades, and instead considered French President Emmanuel Macron’s nuclear umbrella plan.
Andrzej Duda also dismissed concerns that Trump would withdraw U.S. troops from Poland or negotiate with Russia in a way that undermines Ukraine, stating that Trump’s approach is a strategic "hard game" rather than appeasement.
Nuclear weapons in Poland not discussed in government
Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Andrzej Szejna stated on Thursday that President Andrzej Duda’s proposal to station nuclear weapons in Poland has not been discussed in detail within the Polish government.
Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Andrzej Szejna stated that President Duda’s proposal to deploy U.S. nuclear weapons in Poland has not been formally discussed within the government and that the French nuclear umbrella plan is still awaiting a defense ministry recommendation. Photo: PAP/Paweł Supernak
Szejna added that the French nuclear umbrella proposal for Poland is still awaiting a recommendation from the Minister of National Defense.
He also addressed Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s recent visit to Ankara, where Tusk and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan discussed Ukraine and regional security.
He stressed that Poland will advocate for accelerating talks on Turkey’s EU membership, noting that both the EU and Poland are working to bring Turkey closer to the bloc.
Discussions on nuclear weapons should be held behind closed doors, says Siemoniak
A similar stance has been expressed by the Ministry of Interior and Administration.
Polish Interior Minister and Special Services Coordinator Tomasz Siemoniak stressed that any discussion about deploying U.S. nuclear weapons in Poland should happen behind closed doors and only after securing agreements with Washington to avoid undermining Poland’s position. Photo: PAP/Paweł Supernak
Minister Tomasz Siemoniak, who also serves as the Coordinator of Special Services, emphasized that the issue of deploying U.S. nuclear weapons in Poland should be discussed discreetly and requires prior agreements with the United States to avoid weakening the country's position.
He stressed that the U.S. military presence is crucial for regional security, but decisions on this matter should first be made in closed negotiations.
Siemoniak also noted that, from a geopolitical perspective, Poland is not significantly different from Germany, which has hosted American nuclear weapons for decades.
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Source: IAR/PAP/Financial Times/TVN24/MSZ/X/@shashj/@FT