2024-04-28 19:49 update: 2024-04-29, 13:59
Photo PAP/Radek Pietruszka
Polish President Andrzej Duda has told Canada's CTV news channel that while no decision has been made whether Poland will host nuclear weapons as part of the Nato's Nuclear Sharing programme, his country is prepared to do so.
Duda made the declaration while giving an interview during his recent visit to Canada.
Asked about the possibility of Poland joining the Nuclear Sharing programme he replied: "I don't know anything about such decisions, so responsibly speaking I am saying there are no such decisions in place, but we are declaring our readiness."
Duda added that Poland has long been ready to join the Nato programme, but this decision also depends on the allies.
"We are ready, because we understand that this is about strengthening the security of Europe, about building a security architecture," he said.
At the same time, Duda added that "the security architecture today requires reconstruction by moving important defence installations and important military installations, also to Nato countries that were not previously members of Nato."
He said that despite the fact that Poland had been a Nato member for 25 years, it was only after 2016 that alliance troops began to be stationed in the country.
According to Duda, "in this context", military installations should follow.
"I'm talking about the supply of fuel, I'm talking about the Nato fuel pipelines that are in Western Europe today and end in Germany, and they should be extended to the Nato border, that is to Poland, to the Baltic states, to Romania, to Bulgaria, but I am also talking about elements such as Nuclear Sharing nuclear installations," he said.
Duda reiterated that Poland is "ready" to host nuclear weapons, "because we can see that Russia is dangerous again, that Russia is deploying its nuclear weapons westwards - to Belarus, to Krolewiec (Russia's westernmost region - PAP)."
In his opinion, the purpose of including Poland in the programme would not be to provoke Russia by the West and Nato.
"On the contrary. It is Russia which is provoking the West, it is Russia that has been militarising for years - both the Krolewiec district and Belarus," Duda said.
He added that Nato members are "exclusively" responding to Russia’s aggression.
Asked to assess Poland's chances of joining the Nuclear Sharing programme, Duda replied that the topic "had been raised in conversations with allies."
"There are no decisions in this regard … I want to deny all the claims that some decisions have been made on this one, I have not participated in making any decisions," he said.
Nuclear Sharing programme is part of Nato's nuclear deterrence policy. It makes nuclear warheads available to member states that do not have their own nuclear weapons. Since November 2009, Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey have hosted nuclear weapons provided by the US as part of the scheme. (PAP)
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