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US and Poland close to air defence deal
Poland and the United States appear closer to a deal that would allow US missile defence interceptors to be installed on Polish territory.
- AP
- Published: 00:44 February 3, 2008
Washington: Poland and the United States appear closer to a deal that would allow US missile defence interceptors to be installed on Polish territory.
Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski said the two sides had agreed in principle after he had received assurances on Friday that the United States would help Poland strengthen its short- to medium-range air defences.
The two sides did not elaborate on the terms of their breakthrough, and it remained unclear whether the United States had made specific promises to provide air defence systems. Friday's announcement seems likely to further aggravate tensions with Russia, which has opposed adamantly the US missile defence plans for Europe, which would also include a radar array in the Czech Republic.
The announcement seems to restore momentum to a US project that the Bush administration has said it hopes to start building this year. The project has been a major source of tension with Russia and had looked stalled since Poland's new government, headed by Prime Minister Donald Tusk, sought new arrangements after taking office in November.
In a news conference by Sikorski and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Friday, the two officials suggested that the United States would help with Polish air defences, which Poland requested in the deal.
"We understand that there is a desire for defence modernisation in Poland, and particularly for air defence modernisation in Poland," Rice said. "This is something that we support because it will make our ally, Poland, more capable, it will make Poland, as the foreign minister has said, more able to operate with us."
Sikorski said that negotiators would continue to work on the details of an agreement that would allow the United States to install 10 interceptors as part of a long-range European missile defence system.
"We are not at the end of the road as regards negotiations. We are in the middle of the road," he said.
"We have an agreement in principle." Any eventual deal also would have to be approved by the Polish parliament, and the US Congress would have to approve the financing.
On Friday, Sikorski sought to address likely Russian opposition by Russia to the US air defence aid. Russia has already threatened to re-target nuclear missiles at Poland to counter what it sees as a US attempt to undermine the Russian military deterrent.
"The reinforced Polish air defences are not directed against anybody," Sikorski said. "They are to enable Poland to be a stronger Nato ally with the United States."
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