Polish, Russian foreign ministers seek to ease tensions (Roundup)

Sep 11, 2008, 13:06 GMT

Warsaw - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met with Polish counterpart Radek Sikorski in Warsaw Thursday for 'confidence building' measures in the light of tensions over international issues, including a planned US anti-missile system in Poland.

During the talks, Lavrov said Russia did not see a threat from Poland, but simply could not ignore a US anti-missile system - to be hosted in Poland and the Czech Republic - so close to its borders.

Russia believed the anti-missile shield to be an 'integral part' of a planned US system throughout the globe and in space, Lavrov said.

'The US is currently working on a global lightning strike project,' against which numerous countries and several EU nations have spoken out, he said.

For his part, Sikorski said the meeting helped him 'better understand' the Russian stance.

While Poland will continue to speak out on Russian issues to the European Union (EU) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, it wanted to speak 'in a balanced way, based on good knowledge of the Russian Federation's views and intentions.'

Referring to recent threats that deploying the system would make Poland a military target, Sikorski added that Russian generals should 'weigh their words more, so they don't needlessly frighten Europe.'

Sikorski said he hoped that, in time, Russian worries over the system will subside. He said both US presidential candidates have said the system is not targeted at Russia, and Poland will act in a 'transparent way' to build trust between the nations.

Lavrov in an article published earlier in a Polish daily wrote that Russia was ready to talk about the missile shield as long as the guarantees weren't 'empty political gestures.'

'If the US and Poland are really interested in guaranteeing that the European anti-missile base won't be aimed against Russia, then we, like up until now, are ready to consider their concrete proposals,' he said.

Lavrov's was the first visit by a senior official since the recent conflict with Georgia. He was slated to meet with Prime Minister Donald Tusk later Thursday.

Poland signed a deal with the US last month to host 10 interceptor missiles on its soil in exchange for military aid. Moscow considers the shield a threat to its nuclear deterrent, despite assurances from Washington that it was meant for protection against 'rogue states' such as Iran.

Poland also drew Russia's anger by leading several former eastern bloc countries in calling for a tough EU stance against Russia over the latter's conduct in a brief conflict with Georgia.