Poland/United States

Defence deal signed in Warsaw

Article published on the 2008-08-20 Latest update 2008-08-20 11:37 TU

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
(Photo : Reuters)

The United States and Poland have signed a deal for a US missile defence base on Polish soil. Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, travelled to Warsaw for the ceremony, capping 18 months of negotiations. Washington says the system will protect the US and Europe from missile attacks from what is calls "rogue elements" in the Middle East, such as Iran.

The deal has heightened tensions with Russia, already at war with Georgia, who warned the base could become a target for a nuclear strike. The agreement was signed by Rice and Poland's Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski.

Lech Kaczynski, Poland's president, said on Wednesday that the signing ceremony would be "an important day in our history."

The deal "strengthens Poland's position in the world", Kaczynski said in an address to the nation.

Under the agreement, ten US interceptor missiles will be stationed at a base 180km from Russia's westernmost frontier by 2011-2013.

Kaczynski stressed that the missile defence shield was purely a defensive system and not a threat to any nation.

A day after Warsaw and Washington reached agreement on the deal last week, a leading Russian general made his country's strongest warning yet against the system.   "Poland, by deploying [the system] is exposing itself to a strike - 100 per cent," General Anatoly Nogovitsyn was reported as saying on Friday by the Interfax news agency.