U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her Polish counterpart Radoslav Sikorski have signed an agreement in Warsaw to station an American missile defense system in Poland. Polish President Lech Kaczynski and Prime Minister Donald Tusk also took part in the ceremony. The agreement calls for the creation of a U.S. facility with ten interceptor rockets in the northern part of the country.
The U.S. had already signed an agreement with the Czech Republic on July 8th to build a radar tracking station for the system in that country. The system is to be operational in 2015.
In exchange, the United States promised to supply Poland with Patriot defense missiles and further financial help to PolandÂ’s military forces.
According to Washington, the missile defense system is intended to primarily protect against missiles from Iran which, despite international pressure, continues to develop its nuclear program.
This means further pressure on already tense relations between Washington and Moscow. Russia regards the presence of a missile defense system so close to its borders as a threat and says it will lead to an arms race, according to the Russian Foreign Office.
At the same time, Russia confirmed its intention to continue negotiating with the west in an attempt to block plans for Polish missiles and Czech radar support.
In reaction to the planned system in Central Europe, Syria had already stated it was prepared to allow the stationing of Russian missiles on its soil. The announcement was made by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad prior to his visit to Moscow. Increased military cooperation between Syria and Russia is expected to be a major theme during his visit to Moscow.
Russia also said it was considering stationing combat aircraft and missiles in Belarus in answer to the American missile system. Military experts in Moscow also hinted that they might deploy bombers to Cuba.
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