WARSAW, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) -- Poland is open to hosting nuclear weapons under the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO) nuclear sharing arrangements and has been in talks with the United States on the issue, the country's President Andrzej Duda has said.
"There is always a potential opportunity to participate in nuclear sharing. We have spoken with American leaders about whether the U.S. is considering such a possibility. The issue is open," Duda said in an interview with the Polish weekly newspaper Gazeta Polska published on Wednesday.
According to NATO's fact sheet, its nuclear sharing arrangements are designed to share "the alliance's nuclear deterrence mission and the related political responsibilities and decision-making" among allies, instead of sharing nuclear weapons.
The United States has deployed nuclear weapons in Europe and has them under its custody and control, it said. These weapons are hosted by certain NATO allies in Europe.
American nuclear weapons are reportedly stored in Germany, Italy, Turkey, Belgium and the Netherlands within the program.
According to Notes from Poland, an independent news outlet in the country, the three NATO members currently equipped with their own nuclear weapons are the United States, the United Kingdom and France.
"The problem, first of all, is that we don't have nuclear weapons" and there is "no indication that in the near future" Poland will gain such weapons, Duda said. ■