Strings attached

The Polish government will not agree to host a US anti-missile site unless Washington commits to boosting Polish air defenses, Defense Minister Bogdan Klich said last week.

The move is a strong break from the stance of the previous government, which had considered the US plan a "done deal."

In an interview with Reuters, Klich said he would discuss Poland's demands, including greater military cooperation between the two nations, with US Defense Secretary Robert Gates in Washington DC this week.

"In Washington, I want to strongly emphasize the issues that are of interest to the Polish side," he said. "The first of these is the accompanying [air defense] package, without which the Polish government's consent for the American installation is really difficult to imagine."

Washington wants to deploy 10 rockets in Poland and a radar station in the Czech Republic as part of a global defense system against long-range ballistic missiles.

Russia has voiced strong opposition to the plan, saying the Central European portion of the shield could threaten its security and upset the balance of military power in the region. Warsaw's previous conservative government, which lost power in October, said such arguments showed Russia had not given up its imperial instincts towards Central Europe. Led by President Lech Kaczyński and former Prime Minister Jarosław Kaczyński, the conservatives had refused to talk to Moscow on the issue, one of many factors pushing relations between the two countries to new lows.

Klich said his government was eager to repair ties with Russia and would seek to convince Moscow it had nothing to fear. PM Donald Tusk confirmed last week that he would be heading to Moscow for high-level talks on February 8. (Reuters)