Russia angry at Poland's preliminary OK to US missile shield
RENATA GOLDIROVA
04.02.2008 @ 09:25 CET
Reviving World War II rhetoric, Russia has warned Poland against hosting a US missile defence shield after Warsaw last week agreed "in principle" to host parts of the system on its territory.
"The Polish colleagues must be reminded of their recent history, which indicates that attempts to place Poland 'on the confrontation line' have always led to tragedies. That way, Poland lost nearly one third of its citizens during World War II," Russia's envoy to NATO Dmitry Rogozin told Russian news agency Interfax on Sunday (3 February).
"We have an agreement in principle", Poland's foreign minister says (Photo: US State Department)
He added: "I was sure this horrible lesson would not be wasted and Poland would plan its foreign policy relying on friendly relations all along the borderline."
Mr Rogozin's tough-worded comments come shortly after Polish foreign minister Radek Sikorski indicated last Friday (1 February) that Warsaw was warming up to the idea of hosting US interceptor missiles on its soil.
"We are not at the end of the road as regards negotiations," Mr Sikorski said during his visit to Washington, adding: "We are in the middle of the road. We have an agreement in principle."
Comments from US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice suggest that the US has agreed to strengthen Poland's own defences, meaning an extensive overhaul of its air defences - something that has been a key demand put forward by the current Polish administration.
"We understand that there is a desire for defence modernisation in Poland and particularly for air-defence modernization," said Ms Rice, adding: "this is something that we support because it will make our ally, Poland, more capable".
The Bush administration wants to deploy ten interceptor missiles on Polish territory and a radar base in the Czech Republic, claiming such a military base would defend the two continents, America and Europe, from "rogue states" such as Iran and North Korea.
The military base is expected to be fully operational by 2013.
But the Kremlin, which dominated the Central Europe until 1989, has long been suspicious of the US missile defence plans for the region. It believes the military system is to be directed against Russia.
Russian president Vladimir Putin has already responded by freezing his country's commitments under the 1990 Conventional Forces in Europe (CEF) treaty, which sets limits on the number of conventional weapons and military deployments across the continent.
According to Mr Rogozin, Poland failed to fulfil its previous promise "to tackle the issue in dialogue with Washington, Brussels and Moscow". "It is obvious now, that the dialogue with Moscow has ended having not even started, generally speaking," he told Interfax.
Later this week (8 February), Donald Tusk will make his first visit to Moscow. In March, he is to visit the White House. The missile defence shield issue is to dominate both high-level meetings.