Polish President Andrzej Duda volunteered his nation to host nuclear weapons from the United States if NATO should decide increased militarization is necessary.
His remarks come just over two years into the Russia-Ukraine conflict and days after the U.S. House of Representatives voted to pass a $61 billion aid package for Ukraine.
“Russia is increasingly militarizing the Königsberg oblast (Kaliningrad). Recently, it has been relocating its nuclear weapons to Belarus,” Duda said in an interview with Fakt published on April 22. “If our allies decide to deploy nuclear weapons as part of nuclear sharing on our territory as well, in order to strengthen the security of NATO's eastern flank, we are ready for it.”
“We are an ally in the North Atlantic Alliance, and we also have obligations in this respect, i.e., we simply implement a common policy,” he added.
The president said Warsaw and Washington, D.C. have been discussing the matter “for some time.”
"I've already talked about it several times. I must admit that when asked about it, I declared our readiness," he said.
According to POLITICO, “President Vladimir Putin has made veiled nuclear threats toward the West, even stashing atomic weapons in Belarus, which borders NATO members Poland, Lithuania and Latvia.”
Poland shares a border with Ukraine and has absorbed over one million refugees since the conflict broke out in February 2022. It does not have any nuclear weapons of its own.
Duda shares a warm relationship with former President Donald Trump, whom he met with less than a week ago in New York. The Polish president and the presumptive Republican nominee met on April 18 at Trump Tower, where they discussed the Russia-Ukraine war and Duda’s effort to “boost NATO members' defense spending,” per CBS News. Duda has also called to the United States to continue to financially support Ukraine during the ongoing conflict.
“I really like talking to him because he is an extremely interesting personality and has great experience, both political and business,” said Duda during his recent interview.
The Polish president also said Trump is a participant in “very serious American political battles.”
“These are America’s internal affairs and the decisions of American voters, but this is a very hard political game,” Duda told the Polish outlet, per The Hill. “You have to have tough elbows and therefore he plays politics decisively. Not everyone is used to it, not everyone likes it, but he is a rational person.”
“Rational, I would say, to a fault. Emotions are only on the outside,” he added. “I am confident about how America’s business will be conducted when President Trump runs it again.”
