WARSAW (AP) – Poland’s prime minister said Tuesday that negotiations on the country’s possible hosting of a U.S. missile defense site could open in a “short time, counted in weeks.”
Jaroslaw Kaczynski’s comments come a day after talks with the U.S. Ambassador to Poland, Victor Ashe, over plans by Washington to set up a site for 10 missile interceptors in Poland and a radar base in the Czech Republic.
“I believe that in a short time, counted in weeks, the negotiations will open,” Jaroslaw Kaczynski told state Radio 1.
The U.S. has said the missile defense system would help detect and destroy missile attacks against the United States and Europe from the Middle East. Kaczynski insisted talks should center on Poland’s condition that its own security would be increased through hosting the site.
“We do not hide that we find the idea a good one, but under that condition,” Kaczynski said. “This condition will take on a concrete form in the course of the negotiations.”
Russia is strongly opposed to the plan and warned last week that Poland and the Czech Republic risked being targeted by Russian missiles if they agreed to host the U.S. bases.
“There are threats against Poland that will certainly be carried out, and Poland needs to have an answer to them,” Kaczynski said.
