Polish President Karol Nawrocki has said Poland must have its own nuclear weapons to give it adequate protection from potential aggresssors.
In an interview with commercial broadcaster Polsat News yesterday, Nawrocki – who is aligned to the opposition Conservatives (PiS) – said he supported building Poland’s security on a nuclear capability.
“I’m a huge advocate of Poland joining a nuclear project to build Poland’s security,” said Nawrocki but he acknowledged that would require co-operation with allies.
“This path, in full respect of all international norms, is the path we must follow. We need to take steps so we can get started. We are a country on the edge of armed conflict. The aggressive, imperial stance of Russia toward Poland is obvious,” Nawrocki said.
Responding to questions about Russian reactions to any start of a Polish nuclear programme, Nawrocki said: “Russia could respond aggressively to anything.”
Russian Senator Alexey Pushkov said in response to Nawrocki’s words that “excessive ambitions have always been ruinous for Poland”. He suggested Poland would not be capable of having its own nuclear capacity and would probably have to rely on other European states such as France.
Russian media also pointed to the fact that Poland remains a signatory to the non-proliferation treaty and said Warsaw’s attempt to have nuclear weapons on its territory would be destabilising for the whole region.
Polish-Russian relations remain tense with tit-for-tat closures of consulates and Poland accusing Russia of hybrid actions such as sabotage, cyberattacks, disinformation and last autumn’s incursion of Polish air space by more than 20 Russian drones.
The idea of establishing some form of nuclear deterrent surfaced soon after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Nawrocki’s predecessor, Andrzej Duda, stated that Poland was open to hosting nuclear weapons and had discussed the idea with the US.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who heads Poland’s centre-left coalition government, last year welcomed French President Emmanuel Macron’s idea of extending that country’s nuclear umbrella over European allies.
The present Tusk government, though, and the last PiS government have concentrated on building a strong conventional capacity with Poland becoming the highest per capita defence spender in NATO and having the pact’s third largest land forces.
The US-Russia nuclear arms treaty known as New START expired on February 5 this year. US President Donald Trump has said that while he was seeking a new deal to cover both Russia and China he was ordering the resumption of nuclear testing “on equal terms” with Russia and China.
Speaking at the Munich Security Conference on February 9, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Germany and France are negotiating a European nuclear deterrent as a supplement to US nuclear capabilities.
