Despite growing concerns that Russia could attack NATO, Poland’s Deputy Defense Minister Paweł Zalewski has said the country does not want to deploy nuclear weapons on its territory, Politico reports.
He told reporters gathered at NATO headquarters in Brussels that he wanted to be absolutely clear and forthright: Poland does not want nuclear warheads on its territory. He stressed that Poland wants to be part of NATO’s nuclear deterrent program, which does not mean that the country should have nuclear weapons on its territory.
Zalewski’s statement is Warsaw’s most categorical statement on nuclear weapons. While Poland has previously expressed skepticism about the deployment of nuclear weapons in the country, it has also indicated that it is in the early stages of talks on a possible expansion of Washington’s nuclear deterrent program to Europe,
and has also joined a French initiative aimed at Paris’ own nuclear deterrent program.
Meanwhile, Polish President Karol Nawrocki has left the door open for Warsaw to develop its own nuclear weapons program one day.
Western officials have warned that Russia could attack NATO by the end of the decade, and the latest US intelligence suggests it could happen even sooner.
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