Poland is “ready” to host NATO nuclear weapons should the alliance move to reinforce its eastern flank bordering Russia, Warsaw has said.
“If our allies decide to deploy nuclear weapons as part of nuclear sharing also on our territory to strengthen the security of NATO’s eastern flank, we are ready for it,” Polish President Andrzej Duda told Polish outlet Fakt in an interview published on Monday.
More than two years of war in Ukraine has spurred NATO countries in eastern Europe — close to Russian territory — to heavily invest in their military strength, although they do not possess nuclear weapons. In the alliance, the U.S., the United Kingdom and France have nuclear weapons, but several European bases host U.S. nuclear weapons.
Russia, which has the world’s largest nuclear arsenal, said in June 2023 that it had started transferring tactical nuclear weapons to one of its key allies, Belarus. Russia used Belarus as a springboard for its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and Belarus borders NATO countries Poland and Latvia.
This is a breaking story and will be updated shortly.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.