Poland rules out hosting NATO nuclear weapons on its soil

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BRUSSELS — Poland “does not want” allied nuclear weapons stationed on its territory, the country’s Deputy Defense Minister Paweł Zalewski said Thursday, despite growing worries of a Russian incursion into NATO territory.

“I would like to say very clearly and openly: Poland does not want to have nuclear warheads on its territory,” he told reporters at NATO headquarters in Brussels. “We want to participate in NATO nuclear deterrence, [which] does not mean to have a nuclear warhead on our territory.”

Zalewski’s statement is Warsaw’s most categorical statement on the topic. While it has previously expressed skepticism toward hosting nuclear weapons, Poland has also said it was in early-stage talks with the U.S. around a potential expansion of Washington’s nuclear deterrent in Europe, and had in parallel joined a French initiative aimed at extending Paris’ own deterrent in Europe.

Separately, Polish President Karol Nawrocki has left the door open to Warsaw eventually building its own nuclear weapons program.

Western officials have warned Russia could attack NATO territory by the end of the decade, while recent U.S. intelligence suggests an attack could come even sooner.