Agence France-Presse,
Warsaw: Washington is prepared to upgrade Poland's armed forces, a condition Warsaw has set for hosting a controversial US missile shield, the Polish foreign ministry said Tuesday.
“In a telephone discussion with Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice indicated that the American side will this week present an offer to modernise the Polish military, in response to our requirements,” ministry spokesman Piotr Paszkowski told AFP. He did not elaborate.
In an interview with radio station TOK FM, Sikorski confirmed he had spoken to Rice but stressed that talks were still ongoing.
“We are obviously acting in good faith in these negotiations, but we don't know if the American side will propose conditions that we can accept,” Sikorski said.
Washington wants to site 10 interceptor missiles in Poland and a tracking radar in the neighbouring Czech Republic by 2012.
Both are part of a system it says is aimed at protecting the United States and its allies from attack by countries it designates as “rogue states” such as Iran.
Amid concerns about the risks of hosting the US silos, Poland has stepped up its demands for security guarantees and help in improving its defence capacity.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Monday that he was “close to a good solution,” but again hammered home the need for a trade-off for hosting the shield.
“This solution must also be of benefit to Poland, not only to the United States,” Tusk told Polish Radio.
“Either our conditions will be fulfilled … or there will be no shield,” he added.
Warsaw is believed to be seeking to boost Poland's air defence with either Patriot 3 or THAAD anti-missile systems, as well as asking for a long-term military aid package worth 20 billion dollars (13 billion euros) and a bilateral security accord.
US negotiators are expected in Warsaw Thursday, and Tusk is scheduled to meet with US President George W. Bush in Washington on March 10.
Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek is also due to meet with Bush on Wednesday.
On Monday, the Czech government said Topolanek would “close final details of the agreement on the radar and strengthen Euro-Atlantic relations,” and that he would be looking to negotiate Czech “participation” in US weapons research.
Prague stressed that no formal agreement would be signed, as Topolanek wanted to coordinate the final steps with Poland.
Russia strongly opposes the shield plan, saying the missile system would be a grave threat to its national security, and has threatened to aim its own warheads at Poland and the Czech Republic.
Moscow is also angered by what it sees as further Western inroads into what, during the Cold War-era, was its territory.
Poland and the Czech Republic broke free from the crumbling communist bloc in 1989, and joined NATO in 1999 and the European Union in 2004.
