MOSCOW, May 13. /TASS/. Poland could be targeted by Russian missiles if it proceeds with deploying US nuclear warheads on its soil under NATO’s Nuclear Sharing program, Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Andrzej Szejna told RMF24 radio.

"While Poland will not become a nuclear power [by placing NATO nuclear weapons on its territory], Russian missiles will target these facilities," the Polish diplomat noted. Poland "will not be chasing" its NATO allies in order to persuade them to admit Warsaw to the program of jointly using nuclear weapons, he emphasized. Warsaw should weigh joining the program should such a need arise for the alliance’s security architecture, Szejna insisted.

On April 22, Polish President Andrzej Duda said in an interview with the Fakt newspaper that Warsaw had repeatedly discussed with the United States the possibility of deploying its nuclear weapons in Poland under NATO’s Nuclear Sharing program and expressed readiness to do just that, if necessary. Commenting on Duda’s remark, the republic’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that such issues were up to the government to decide, while the Polish Foreign Ministry said that the cabinet had not discussed this matter yet.

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova warned that US nuclear weapons will immediately draw attention of the Russian General Staff and that they will be taken into consideration during military planning, should they ever be placed in Poland.