Nuclear-armed Poland is ‘very real’ – NATO general

Jaroslaw Kraszewski believes Warsaw should host US atomic weapons

Having nuclear weapons is a powerful deterrent and something Poland should look into going forward, a retired Polish Army general said in an interview on Monday.

Speaking with the RMF24 radio, Jaroslaw Kraszewski was asked about last week’s proposal to “give Poland nuclear weapons,” made by American Enterprise Institute scholar Dalibor Rohac in the UK outlet The Spectator.

“I see this scenario as very real,” replied Kraszewski. “Those who have nuclear potential have a very high level of security. Typically, such countries are not attacked, and there isn’t even a possibility of carrying out any activities aimed at causing a local crisis.”

Obtaining atomic weapons is a challenge for Poland to attempt “in the coming years,” he added.

While Rohac has proposed arming Poland with atomic warheads as part of “Trump-proofing the security of Eastern Europe,” meaning ahead of the coming US presidential elections, Kraszewski seemed to favor a longer-term approach.

“There will definitely be a review and resumption of negotiations on the balance of nuclear forces in the world,” he told the Polish radio outlet. “In my opinion, this will happen after the end of the armed conflict in Ukraine.”

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Kraszewski retired from active duty in 2019 and currently heads a company providing defense consulting services, military and police training, and brokerage in buying weapons and ammunition. He has been a frequent guest in Polish media on the subject of the Ukraine conflict.

Poland has repeatedly called for the US to deploy nuclear weapons on its territory. President Andrzej Duda brought up the issue in October 2022, only to be rebuffed by the US State Department. 

The following June, the government in Warsaw once again asked for atomic weapons under the US “nuclear sharing” program, citing a supposed threat from Russia and Belarus. Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev responded by calling the Polish leadership “patented degenerates” who were playing with nuclear fire.

Under the ‘nuclear sharing’ program, Washington has deployed a number of bombs in Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Türkiye, while insisting this isn’t technically violating the nonproliferation treaty as the US maintains ownership of the weapons. Russia has responded by deploying some of its own nuclear-armed missiles in Belarus.