There Will Be No Shield in Poland

Russia comments on Sikorski’s visit to USA

“There will be no shield in Poland”

The Russian media is not in doubt: the installation of the anti-missile shield is more and more doubtful. Poland has confirmed that the U.S. was ready to freeze the anti-missile defense project, as the “Komiersant” interpretd the results of minister Radoslaw Sikorski’s visit to Washington.

The “Kommiersant” emphasized that after talks with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Radoslaw Sikorski has announced that Patriot rockets would be deployed in Poland regardless of the fate of the American anti-missile shield. According to the Russian paper, the Polish foreign minister also implied that the project might even be frozen on account of the crisis. According to Sikorski, however, such a decision has not been made yet. “They haven’t thought about it yet,” he has been cited as saying. In fact, Radoslaw Sikorski’s words have become the first official confirmation that Washington is ready to give up its anti-missile program. During the campaign, Barack Obama said that he was not fully convinced about the usefulness of the system’s deployment in Europe. As the “Kommiersant” stated, “there is a sign that the global economic crisis and a need to raise revenues for rescuing the American economy, but also a hope for establishing a dialogue with Russia is pushing Washington to change plans concerning the anti-missile shield.”

Citing a source from the U.S. Department of State, the “Kommiersant” informed that Washington would not take the decision concerning the shield until that matter was discussed at a meeting of Barack Obama and the president of Russia, Dmitry Medvedev, which is already to take place in April in London on occasion of the G20 Summit.