Poland’s president urges US to move nuclear warheads to Polish territory

Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for free

Your guide to what the 2024 US election means for Washington and the world

Poland’s president has called on the US to transfer nuclear weapons to Polish territory as a deterrent against future Russian aggression, a request that is likely to be perceived as highly provocative in Moscow.

Andrzej Duda said it was “obvious” that President Donald Trump could redeploy US nuclear warheads stored in western Europe or the US to Poland, a proposal the Polish leader said he recently discussed with Keith Kellogg, US special envoy for Ukraine.

“The borders of Nato moved east in 1999, so 26 years later there should also be a shift of the Nato infrastructure east. For me this is obvious,” Duda said in an interview with the Financial Times. “I think it’s not only that the time has come, but that it would be safer if those weapons were already here.”

Duda is hoping to revive a nuclear sharing project that he presented unsuccessfully to former president Joe Biden’s administration in 2022. Poland’s Communist regime hosted Soviet nuclear warheads during the cold war, but stocking such weapons again close to Russia’s borders — this time under US control — would be viewed as a serious threat by the Kremlin.

Duda said it was up to Trump to decide where to deploy US nuclear weapons, but recalled President Vladimir Putin’s announcement in 2023 that Russia would move tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus, Moscow’s ally in its invasion of Ukraine.

“Russia did not even hesitate when they were relocating their nuclear weapons into Belarus,” Duda said. “They didn’t ask anyone’s permission.”

Duda’s call to host nuclear weapons underscores growing anxiety in Poland — shared with other countries in its region — about Russia emerging reinforced from peace negotiations with Ukraine brokered by Trump.

Duda, who is also supreme commander of Poland’s armed forces, echoed Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk in saying that the country could alternatively get better protection from President Emmanuel Macron’s idea to extend France’s “nuclear umbrella” to cover European allies. 

But Duda poured cold water on Tusk’s suggestion last week that Poland could develop its own nuclear arsenal. “In order to have our own nuclear capability, I think it would take decades,” the president said.

Duda also said he could not envisage Trump making a U-turn on the commitment he gave during their meeting last month about maintaining US troops in Poland.

“Concerns regarding the US taking back their military presence from Poland are not justified. We are a credible ally for the US and they also have their own strategic interests here,” he said.

The Polish president also said he did not consider Trump to be conducting pro-Moscow negotiations to force Kyiv to stop fighting. 

“This is not delicate diplomacy, this is a tough game, but in my opinion it’s not that President Trump is being only nice and gentle with Russia,” Duda said. “I think he’s applying instruments against Russia, even though it’s maybe not as loud and visible as those he’s using against Ukraine.”

“Nobody has managed so far to stop this war, so let’s give President Trump a chance.”

Last weekend Polish foreign minister Radosław Sikorski feuded with US secretary of state Marco Rubio and Trump’s ally Elon Musk on social media over Ukraine’s access to Musk’s Starlink satellite system, with Musk dismissing Sikorski as a “small man”. Tusk stepped in to call on Poland’s allies to show respect for weaker partners rather than arrogance.

Duda instead criticised Sikorski for a “completely unnecessary” intervention over Starlink. “You don’t discuss with the American administration on Twitter, you do that through diplomatic channels,” he said.

Duda, a nominee of the opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party, has been at loggerheads with Tusk’s coalition since they won parliamentary elections in 2023. He has repeatedly vetoed Tusk’s reform agenda with the help of PiS-appointed judges who pack the constitutional court. 

Asked if Trump’s administration could influence the Polish presidential election in May, Duda said he was “convinced that Poles will make their own decisions”. But he expressed concern about a contested election outcome, like that in Romania, given that judges will also need to validate the Polish results.

“There is no doubt that we’re currently dealing with a very serious constitutional crisis in Poland,” Duda said. “What has happened in Romania is very concerning and it doesn’t fulfil European democratic standards.”

Romania’s constitutional court has banned far-right candidate Călin Georgescu after annulling his first-round win following allegations that he benefited from an illegal campaign orchestrated by Moscow.

The Polish president accused the European Commission of turning a blind eye to Poland’s institutional conflict after allegedly taking “many actions” to get Tusk back into power in 2023.

“The European Commission is now pretending not to see this,” said Duda. “And do you know why? It’s because Prime Minister Tusk is a member of the same European party as most of the members of the European Commission, together with its president [Ursula von der Leyen].”