Polish President Andrzej Duda has called on the U.S. to transfer nuclear weapons to Polish territory to deter Russia from future aggression against Europe.
In an interview with the Financial Times on Thursday, Duda said that U.S. President Donald Trump could move American nuclear weapons kept in Western Europe or the U.S. to Poland — and added that he discussed the idea recently with Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine, Keith Kellogg.
“I think it’s not only that the time has come, but that it would be safer if those weapons were already here,” Duda told the publication.
“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.
“Russia didn’t even hesitate when it moved its nuclear weapons to Belarus. They didn’t ask anyone for permission,” the Polish president added.
However, the request is likely to be seen as highly provocative in Moscow.
Duda’s comments come after he said last month that Poland would “very willingly” host American troops if Germany doesn’t want them. He was responding to Germany’s chancellor-in-waiting, Friedrich Merz, who cautioned that the Trump administration doesn’t care about Europe and the continent needed to urgently strengthen its defenses.
On March 7, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk — a political rival to Duda — said that Poland was seeking access to nuclear weapons and wants to build a 500,000-strong army to strengthen its defenses against the Russian threat. Tusk said Poland was “talking seriously” with France about being protected by the French nuclear umbrella.
According to the Financial Times, Duda agreed with Tusk that Poland could seek protection from France’s nuclear umbrella, if not that of the U.S., but dismissed the prospect of Poland developing its own nuclear weapons. “I think it would take decades,” he said.
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