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U.S. missile defense plan gets mixed reply

WARSAW, Poland - A U.S. plan to deploy missile defense interceptors to Poland and Romania has been a source of assurance to Washington's allies, who welcome further integration in a key U.S. security system. Meanwhile, it has infuriated Russia, which sees the interceptors as a threat and has cited them to block cooperation on nuclear arms reductions and other issues.

    by By Vanessa Gera, Associated Press, Inquirer
    Published 

WARSAW, Poland - A U.S. plan to deploy missile defense interceptors to Poland and Romania has been a source of assurance to Washington's allies, who welcome further integration in a key U.S. security system. Meanwhile, it has infuriated Russia, which sees the interceptors as a threat and has cited them to block cooperation on nuclear arms reductions and other issues.

So some might have expected the Russians to be relieved and the Poles to express anxiety at a plan announced last week by U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, which effectively cancels plans to put long-term interceptors in Poland in the next decade.

But on Monday, the Russians said they still were not happy and Polish officials were saying almost nothing, a possible indication that they are relieved that shorter-range missiles, at least, will still be deployed to Poland in the next five years. Romanians also haven't complained, noting merely that U.S. missile defense interceptors will still be deployed there in 2015, as planned.

"We feel no euphoria in connection with what was announced by the U.S. defense secretary and we see no grounds for correcting our position," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said in comments carried Monday by the Kommersant newspaper. "This is not a concession to Russia and we do not see it as such."

Russia has said it believes the U.S. plan is aimed against its missile program. Washington says the system is meant to stop missiles from Iran and North Korea.

The U.S. missile defense plans for Europe involve building up the system in four phases, with shorter- and medium-range interceptors to be deployed in the first three phases, and longer-range interceptors meant for the fourth phase, which has not yet been funded by Congress.

U.S. officials visiting Warsaw on Monday sought to reassure Poland that the cancellation of the final stage will not sideline the country and was not made to appease Russia.

"For Poland there is no change, because the phase-three system, which was always planned to be in Poland, is still now planned to be in Poland," Madelyn Creedon, the U.S. assistant defense secretary for global strategic affairs, told the Associated Press.