Medvedev tests Obama

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Wednesday that Russia will station missiles near Poland's border as a response to the US missile defense plans, a move analyst called as "testing" the new President-elect Barack Obama.

Medvedev said that equipment to electronically hamper the operation of prospective US missile defense facilities in Poland and CzechRepublic will be deployed. "To neutralize - if necessary - the [US] anti-missile system, an Iskander missile system will be deployed in the Kaliningrad region," said Medvedev.

One day after Obama won the US presidential election Medvedev has "tested" the US, much as it tested the West in August with the war in Georgia, Bartosz Wiśniewski, political analyst at The Polish Institute of International Affairs told WBJ.

The transition period between election day and the inauguration ceremony in January, according to Wiśniewski, is a time when the going administration is stalled and doesn't have the mandate to make decisive decisions, while the coming administration needs time to see all the complexities of a situation. "Russia may seek to gain something from this period, of let's say, weakened attention on the side of the United States," said Wiśniewski.

Poland has signed an agreement with the US to station elements of the missile defense shield on Polish soil, however Obama has mentioned that he would abandon the system if it won't work efficiently. "We don't know what is going to be the future of this project. There are too many variables," said Wiśniewski. (AO)