The country’s Deputy Minister of Defence, Paweł Zalewski, said that Poland “does not want to have nuclear warheads on its territory,” despite NATO’s concerns.
He stressed at NATO headquarters in Brussels that “Poland does not want to have nuclear warheads on its territory. We want to participate in NATO’s nuclear deterrence, which does not mean having a nuclear warhead on our territory.”
The latest statements represent Warsaw’s strongest stance on the issue to date, although Poland has previously been sceptical about the deployment of a nuclear arsenal.
However, the country’s authorities have acknowledged that they are conducting preliminary negotiations with Washington on expanding the US nuclear umbrella in Europe. Meanwhile, Warsaw has expressed its support for Paris’s initiative to boost European security through French deterrence capabilities, which involves engaging European allies in joint exercises, showing strategic readiness and the possible deployment of French aircraft at their bases.
The Polish government had left open the possibility that Warsaw might eventually develop its own nuclear weapons programme.
