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By Brendan Cole
Senior Reporter
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NATO member Poland should eventually get nuclear weapons as a security measure, a top Polish general has said.
Following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Warsaw has been a key supporter of Kyiv and has warned of the danger posed by the Kremlin, which has made repeated nuclear threats.
Brigadier General Jaroslaw Kraszewski told Polish media outlet RMF FM that if Warsaw had nuclear weapons it would deter possible aggression because "those who possess nuclear capabilities have a very high level of security."
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Kraszewski said that Poland's armed forces had been modernized significantly since the country joined NATO in 1999 and that Warsaw had always shown its support for the alliance's actions in acting against threats to its borders.
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He was asked about an article in British magazine The Spectator headlined "It's time to give Poland nuclear weapons," by Dalibor Rohac, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C.
Rohac argued that the prospect of Donald Trump winning the U.S. election could endanger NATO's deterrence given his rhetoric criticizing the alliance.
"Trump-proofing the security of Eastern Europe, few measures would be as effective as arming the largest country of the region—Poland—with nuclear weapons," the Op-Ed said.
Kraszewski described such a scenario "as very real," according to a translation.
"Those who possess nuclear capabilities have a very high level of security," he said. "Usually, such countries are not attacked and the possibility of any action aimed at provoking a local crisis is not even considered. That is why I see having such an arsenal as a challenge in the coming years. I hope it will come to that."
When asked about a time frame, he said there would be a resumption of negotiations on the arrangement of nuclear forces in the world after the war in Ukraine.
"Western Europe is fed up with being intimidated by Russia," he said, describing Moscow as an "unpredictable neighbor."
Newsweek has contacted the Polish foreign ministry for comment.
In September 2022, Polish President Andrzej Duda said Warsaw had asked the U.S. for nuclear weapons to be stationed in Poland because of the perceived threat posed by Russia, which has deployed such arms to neighboring Belarus.
Warsaw has said that no progress has been made towards hosting nuclear weapons in Poland.
In reporting Kraszewski's comments, Russian state news agency TASS said Poland's National Security Bureau chief, Jacek Siewiera, had dodged the issue of nuclear weapons during an interview with newspaper Rzeczpospolita.
It said he had avoided answering a question about whether Warsaw would strike a deal with the U.S. to place such weapons in Poland under the NATO Nuclear Sharing program.
Update 02/12/24, 10:00 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with further information.
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