Article originally in the Financial Times.
The Polish President called on the United States to move nuclear weapons to the Polish territory as a deterrent against future Russian aggression. This requirement will probably be perceived as very provocative in Moscow.
Andrzej Duda said it is “obvious” that President Donald Trump could move US nuclear heads stored in Western Europe or the United States to Poland. The Polish President said he recently discussed this proposal with a special American ambassador for Ukraine Keith Kellogg.
The Russians did not ask anyone
“NATO borders have moved east in 1999, so 26 years later, NATO infrastructure should be moved to the east. It is obvious for me, ”Duda said in an interview with the Financial Times. “I think not only the time has come, but it would be safer if the weapons were already here.”
Duda hopes that he will be able to revive the project of the common use of nuclear weapons, which in 2022 unsuccessfully introduced the government of former President Joe Biden. The Polish Communist regime during the Cold War hosted the Soviet nuclear heads, but the re -storage of such weapons near the Russian border, this time under the control of the United States, the Kremlin would consider the Kremlin a serious threat.
Duda said it was up to Trump to decide where to place the US nuclear weapons, but recalled President Vladimir Putin’s statement that Russia would move tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus, Moscow ally during the invasion of Ukraine. “Russia did not hesitate to move its nuclear weapons to Belarus,” Duda said. “They didn’t ask anyone about permission.”
Duda’s call for nuclear weapons is underlined by increasing concern in Poland and in other countries in the region that Russia is based on peace negotiations with Ukraine, which was mediated by Trump, strengthened.
Trump is not just nice and tender
Duda, who is also the highest commander of the Polish armed forces, repeated the words of Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk that the country could alternatively get better protection thanks to President Emmanuel Macron’s idea to expand the French “nuclear umbrella” to cover European allies.
Duda, however, cooled Tuska last week with his suggestion that Poland could develop its own nuclear arsenal. “While we have our own nuclear potential, I think it would take decades,” the president said.
Duda also said he could not imagine that Trump would withdraw from the commitment he had given during their meeting last month to preserve US troops in Poland. “Concerns about the withdrawal of US military presence from Poland are not justified. We are a trusted ally for the United States and have their own strategic interests here, ”he said.
The Polish President also said he was not thinking that Trump is conducting promo negotiations in order to force Kiev to stop fighting. “This is not delicate diplomacy, it is a hard game, but in my opinion it is not that President Trump is only nice and tender against Russia,” Duda said. “I think it applies levers against Russia, although it may not be as loud and visible as those used to Ukraine.”
“No one has been able to stop this war yet, so let’s give President Trump a chance.”
The Americans are not discussed on Twitter
Last weekend, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski on social networks quarreled with American Foreign Minister Marc Rubio and Trump’s ally Elon Musky in connection with the approach of Ukraine to Musk’s satellite system Starlink, calling Musk Sikorski as a “small man”.
Tusk has been involved and called on the Allies of Poland to show respect for weaker partners instead of arrogance. Instead, Duda criticized Sikorský for “completely unnecessary” intervention in connection with Starlink. “He is not discussing Twitter with the American government, but a diplomatic way,” he said.
Duda, nominee of the opposition party Law and Justice (PIS), has been with the Tusk coalition for knives since she won the parliamentary elections in 2023.
Asked whether the Trump government could influence the May Polish presidential elections, Duda replied that he was “convinced that the Poles will decide themselves”. However, he expressed concern about the disputed outcome of the elections, as in Romania, given that the judges would have to confirm the Polish results.
A serious constitutional crisis
“There is no doubt that we are currently dealing with a very serious constitutional crisis in Poland,” Duda said. “What happened in Romania is very worrying and does not meet European democratic standards.”
The Romanian Constitutional Court banned the extreme right -wing candidate Calin Georgescu’s election after the abolished his victory in the first round after the accusations that he had benefited from the illegal campaign organized by Moscow.
The Polish President has accused the European Commission of closing his eyes in front of the institutional conflict in Poland after allegedly took “many steps” to return to power in 2023. “The European Commission now pretends to see it,” Duda said. “And you know why? Because Prime Minister Tusk is a member of the same European party as most members of the European Commission along with its chairman [Ursulou von der Leyenovou].“
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