Poland offers talks on US missile shield
US ambitions to place parts of a missile defence shield in Poland is no longer an exclusive bilateral issue between Washington and Warsaw, but will be put up for a broader discussion, the new Polish leadership has indicated.
"We will be ready to conduct further negotiations on the issue after a series of consultations with NATO and some of our neighbours", prime minister Donald Tusk said in his first policy speech to the country's parliament on Friday (23 November).
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Mr Tusk added that he was "aware of the political and military importance of the initiative", although he was also set "to convince the US of the need to strengthen Poland's own defences".
The Bush administration wants to deploy ten interceptor missiles in Polish territory and a radar base in the Czech Republic, claiming it is to defend the US and Europe from "rogue states" such as Iran and the North Korea.
But the idea of a US military base in Central Europe - which should be fully operational in 2013 - has been strongly criticised in Russia, which dominated the region until 1989.
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.
He has also suggested using the Russia-rented radar station Gabala in Azerbaijan as an alternative to possible American sites in Poland and the Czech Republic.
"We want dialogue with Russia...and we are happy that our eastern neighbour is sending signals confirming that they are also maturing to that view", Mr Tusk said, signalling that Poland under his leadership was ready to listen to Moscow's concerns, too.
Russia continues to be the toughest nut to crack, with the country's foreign ministry dismissing a formal offer tabled by Washington in order to accommodate the Kremlin's objections.
"They have sent concrete proposals. We are continuing to study them, but our first impression is that they do not meet our expectations", a ministry official was cited as saying by the Russian news agency Ria Novosti.
"This is not what was promised orally", the source added, referring to October talks in Moscow between the Bush and Putin administrations.
According to Thomson Financial, the US pledged in October to delay activation of its defence system until Washington and Moscow agreed on "definitive proof" of missile threats from Iran or elsewhere. It also agreed that Russian liaison officers could be stationed at the sites in Poland and the Czech Republic, as long as the two host countries agreed.
