Warsaw/Berlin - US President George W Bush has insisted that
Russia should in no way feel threatened by a US plan to install an
anti-ballistic missile shield in nearby NATO partner and EU member
Poland.
'We want the shield to defend free and democratic states against
rogue states,' Bush told the Friday edition of Poland's liberal
Gazeta Wyborcza daily. 'Russia isn't a rogue state so, it has nothing
to worry about.'
The comment comes ahead of Bush's arrival in Poland on June 8 for
talks with President Lech Kaczynski regarding the stationing of the
European portion of an anti-ballistic missile shield aimed at
neutralizing terror attacks.
In an interview with the German Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper,
Bush stressed that he saw Russia as a friend and not an enemy.
Stationing a missiles system in Poland and the Czech Republic
would not make the world less safe, as alleged by Russian President
Vladimir Putin, Bush told the newspaper in remarks released ahead of
publication on Saturday.
It would rather offer protection from regimes like that in Iran.
Bush said he saw Russia 'not as a hostile regime, rather as a
friend,' although he characterized US-Russian relations as complex,
with areas of disagreement.
In his interview with Gazeta Wyborcza, Bush also indicated that
bilateral economic relations would figure high on the agenda of talks
with Kaczynski at the Polish President's swish and reclusive Baltic
Sea-side residence in Jurata.
'I think the best solution for the future are close relations
between Poland and the United States,' Bush told the Gazeta daily.
'Developing economic cooperation, capital investment and above all
creating new jobs, as was the case with the agreement to buy our F-16
jets - That's what I'll be talking about with your president,' Bush
said.
Last week US Assistant Secretary of State John Rood began talks on
the deployment of the missile shield in Poland.
The US plans to deploy 10 interceptor missiles in Poland and a
radar site in the Czech Republic.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
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