Poland’s opposition leader Jarosław Kaczyński has told reporters that Polish participation in the nuclear sharing program has gained not only his party’s support, which it always had, but also due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it has become widely accepted as something Poland should seek.
Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, Kaczyński said the present Polish ruling left-liberal coalition “serves the other side” which knows that the presence of nuclear arms in Poland would be a huge barrier to any expansion by Russia. He believes that Russia knows, it cannot engage in nuclear war, as the United States is too strong to challenge.
Asked whether, in his opinion, the current ruling coalition is mature enough to decide on nuclear sharing, the Law and Justice (PiS) leader stated that “the current government coalition will never mature to that point (…) because, as I said, it represents an external party. That is, one whose decision-making centers are essentially outside of Poland.”
Polish President Andrzej Duda has invited Prime Minister Donald Tusk to a meeting on May 1 regarding the nuclear sharing program and to discuss matters related to the upcoming Polish presidency in the EU. But, the meeting most likely will have to be held at a later date, as Tusk is currently suffering from pneumonia and has canceled his meetings in the coming days.
Nuclear sharing is a NATO program under which countries that do not have their own atomic weaponry host those belonging to other allied states. Since November 2009, U.S. nuclear weapons have been stored in Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Turkey, but only the U.S., the U.K., and France own such weapons themselves.
During his state visit to Canada on April 22, Duda repeated the claim that Poland had begun talks about joining the nuclear sharing program. “I do not hide that, when asked about it, I declared our readiness,” he said. “Russia is increasingly militarizing the Kaliningrad region, which borders Poland, and has recently relocated some of its nuclear weapons to Belarus,” he added.
Duda stated that Poland was ready to host nuclear weapons. “If our allies decide to deploy nuclear weapons as part of nuclear sharing on our territory to strengthen the security of NATO’s eastern flank, we are ready for it.”
Reacting to Duda’s remarks, Tusk said that the Polish president’s initiative had not been cleared by the government and that he needed to speak with the head of state on the matter. “Any potential initiatives must be very well prepared by the people responsible for them,” Tusk said.
