U.S., Poland Closer to Deal on Missile Defense

Karen DeYoung
Washington Post
Saturday February 2, 2008

The United States and Poland broke a logjam yesterday in negotiations over U.S. plans to build a missile defense shield in Eastern Europe, with the Bush administration committing "in principle" to help Poland modernize its armed forces.

Poland is "satisfied that our arguments have got through," Foreign Affairs Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said. At a news conference yesterday with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Sikorski said that "separate" dialogues would now continue "both on the missile defense base and on the modernization."

Talks on the Pentagon's plan to place 10 missile interceptors in Poland stalled after the new Polish government, which took office in November, proved less receptive to the shield than its predecessor. With the public increasingly opposed to Warsaw's participation and neighboring Russia threatening to counter with missiles aimed at Poland, Prime Minister Donald Tusk had said he was in "no hurry" for an agreement.

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The Pentagon reacted coolly last month when Poland suggested Washington should help rebuild its air defense systems to counter Moscow and should consider signing a bilateral security agreement before negotiations on missile defense continued. Poland is the top European recipient of U.S. military assistance, totaling $750 million since 2001.

Yesterday, however, Rice said that "the United States is very committed to the modernization of Polish forces." She said that progress had also been made on missile defense during her talks with Sikorski, and that discussions would continue when Tusk visits President Bush in early March and at NATO's summit in Bucharest in April.

The administration's eagerness for missile defense talks with Poland reflects its hopes of an accord with the Czech Republic, where the Pentagon plans to base a radar component of the system. Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek will visit Bush a week before Tusk.

Sikorski spokesman Piotr Paszkowski said yesterday's talks established a framework for negotiations but that there was "definitely no agreement" on missile defense. "Ultimately, we will have to sell it to the public" and to the Polish parliament, he said, and the government could "make a more convincing case for going ahead if the bottom line would also be that Polish defense capacity has also been strengthened."

Full article here.

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