Poland, US "move closer" in missile defense talks

Jul 21, 2008, 15:34 GMT

Warsaw - Poland and the United States made progress in talks Monday on US plans to set up a missile defence system in Eastern Europe, both sides said.

Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski met US Assistance Secretary of State Daniel Fried in Warsaw to discuss the proposal to place 10 long-range missile interceptors in Poland, which the Poles want Washington to sweeten with military aid.

'It was a good discussion,' Sikorski told reporters, 'which moved Poland's and the United States' viewpoints closer on the missile shield.'

Details of the talks were not immediately known. Foreign Ministry spokesman Piotr Paszkowski said the meeting was proof that both sides want to continue talks, the Polish Press Agency reported.

US officials have suggested that the interceptors could also be based elsewhere in Eastern Europe. The Czech government has agreed to host the planned system's radar.

'Progress was made. ... They had a good discussion,' US embassy spokesman Andrew Schilling.

Poland has been bargaining hard for military aid in exchange for hosting the US interceptor base, and talks between Warsaw and Washington have stalled. Polish negotiators know the public is unlikely to support the plan unless Poland gets a good offer.

The US says the system is for protection against 'rogue states,' such as Iran. Russia, Poland's former communist overlord, bitterly opposes the missile shield, viewing it as a threat that would worsen security in Eastern Europe.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on July 4 that Poland hadn't accepted the latest US offer after negotiations. Since then, Sikorski met with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in an effort to salvage the talks.

The Czech Republic finished negotiations and signed a treaty this month with the US on hosting the radar.

Fried was in Warsaw for the funeral of former Solidarity activist and foreign minister Bronislaw Geremek, one of the key figures in the movement that toppled communism in Poland in the 1980s.