Defence Ministry denies considering access to NATO nuclear weapons

The statement was issued on Sunday in response to a comment made by Polish deputy Defence MinisterTomasz Szatkowski on Saturday.

Szatkowski told the private broadcaster Polsat that the ministry was considering asking for access to nuclear weapons through the Alliance’s programme, in which “non-nuclear” NATO states could borrow the weapons from the US.

The ministry later issued a statement saying, that “it is not engaged in any work aimed at joining NATO's nuclear sharing program. The comment by the deputy minister should be set in the context of recent remarks made by serious Western think-tanks, which point to deficits in NATO’s nuclear deterrent capability on its eastern flank,” the ministry noted.

Three members of NATO have their own nuclear weapons – the United States, France and the UK, but only the US has provided weapons for nuclear sharing.

Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey have so far hosted US nuclear weapons as part of NATO's nuclear sharing policy.

Poland is a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. (ał/rg/rk)