Warsaw - Talks between the United States and Poland on the
installation of anti-ballistic missile defence silos on Polish soil
could be completed by the end of the year, according to a US State
Department official.
'Talks could be completed by the year's end,' Assistant Secretary
for the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs Daniel Fried told
Poland's PAP news agency Thursday.
'There will certainly be a few more rounds of negotiation,' Fried
said, pointing to the strong possibility of an early general election
in Poland in October as a factor which could delay a final agreement.
Fried, however, stressed there was no official target for the
completion of talks on the controversial US plan to install 10 anti-
ballistic missiles in Poland as a safeguard against missile attacks
by so-called rogue states such as Iran or North Korea.
Russia is vehemently opposed to the plan and regards the US
missile shield proposal as a grave threat to its national security on
its very doorstep.
Fried, however, termed a Russian proposal to locate early-warning
radar stations for the shield in the central Asian republic of
Azerbaijan as constructive, stressing the US missile shield is in no
way directed against Russia.
The US State Department official also said he did not expect a
breakthrough on the issue in talks between US President George W Bush
and Russian President Vladimir Putin at the APEC (Asia-Pacific
Economic Cooperation) forum this week in Sydney, Australia.
Existing US plans call for the radar early warning portion of the
missile shield to be based in Poland's southern neighbour, and its EU
and NATO partner, the Czech Republic.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
USA
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