Poland Still Wants Nuclear Missiles, or at Least to Know It Could Get Them

Polish Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz announced today that his country remains interested in joining the U.S. Nuclear Sharing program, under which U.S. nuclear missiles are deployed in several allied countries.

“To dispel any doubts: Poland remains unchanged in its interest in participating in the Nuclear Sharing program. We are also holding talks about participating in the European nuclear protective umbrella. The position of our government is unequivocal,” Kosiniak-Kamysz stated today on the X network.

The minister was responding to a statement made yesterday by his deputy, Paweł Zalewski, who, after talks at NATO headquarters in Brussels, unexpectedly said that Poland is indeed interested in coming under NATO’s nuclear umbrella, but does not want nuclear weapons on its territory.

After the uproar caused by his statement in the media and the confusion over what Poland actually wants or does not want, Zalewski clarified later last night that Poland has entered the U.S. Dual-Capable Aircraft (DCA) program, a kind of antechamber for joining nuclear sharing.

“But that does not mean that nuclear weapons will be deployed here. That is neither possible nor desirable,” Zalewski explained to Polish media.

The deputy defense minister’s claim that Poland does not want nuclear weapons on its territory was criticized by Marcin Przydacz, advisor to Polish President Karol Nawrocki, who has personally, on several occasions, as well as his predecessor Andrzej Duda, publicly expressed Poland’s readiness for the U.S. to deploy nuclear weapons there, although such decisions fall under the government’s jurisdiction.

Przydacz recalled that previous governments of the now-opposition conservative nationalists, the Law and Justice party, had expressed readiness to join the program under which U.S. nuclear missiles are deployed in Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Turkey.

The communication chaos was also criticized by former head of the National Security Bureau, General Stanisław Koziej.

“A public statement by a government representative that Poland does not want nuclear warheads on its territory is a strategic mistake in the field of deterrence. Nuclear weapons do not have to be here, but we must have the possibility for them to be, and that is exactly what Putin needs to know,” Koziej told Polish television Polsat.