Poland’s president Andrzej Duda has again called on the US to deploy nuclear weapons to Poland as a deterrent to Russia.
Mr Duda’s appeal – made in an interview with the Financial Times – is the latest indication that the frontline Nato nation is increasingly considering nuclear protection as fears about Russia grow.
The Polish president is repeating an appeal he made to the Biden administration in 2022.
Mr Duda’s adviser for international affairs, Wojciech Kolarski, followed up on Mr Duda’s plea with an interview on Poland’s RMF FM radio on Thursday in which he argued that nuclear protection would improve security for Poland, a Nato member along the alliance’s eastern flank that shares borders with Ukraine, Belarus and the Russian territory of Kaliningrad.
Prime minister Donald Tusk, a political opponent of Mr Duda’s, said last week that Poland was in talks with France concerning President Emmanuel Macron’s proposal to use France’s nuclear deterrent to protect the continent from Russian threats. Moscow called that idea “extremely confrontational”.
Mr Tusk made his comment to parliament after Mr Macron said he had decided to open a “strategic debate” on using France’s nuclear deterrent to protect European allies amid concerns over potential US disengagement.
The French president described Moscow as a “threat to France and Europe” in a televised address to the nation.
France is the only nuclear power in the European Union.
