News - Middle East: Poland, a member of the NATO military alliance, is “open” to the idea of hosting American nuclear weapons as a deterrent against possible Russian threats, Deputy Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski has said.

"Let's face it: The soldiers of the US nuclear power are the strongest in stopping Russia from attacking NATO countries and provide us with the greatest security," Kaczynski said in an interview with Germany's Welt Am Sonntag newspaper.

Kaczynski, who leads the ruling national-conservative Law and Justice Party, said he had discussed the possibility of the United States deploying tactical nuclear weapons to Eastern Europe with US senators when he was still in opposition with his party.

"Back then, they thought it was possible. If the Americans asked us to store American nuclear weapons in Poland, we would be open to it," he told the German newspaper.

He acknowledged that deployment of American nuclear weapons was not currently on the agenda but the situation “may change soon,” adding that “the initiative would have to come from the Americans.”