In response to Warsaw’s recent announcement that it will base US Patriot missiles near the border with Kaliningrad, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Moscow needs more information.
While acknowledging that Patriot missiles based on Polish soil “is a subject of bilateral relations between Poland and the United States,” Lavrov said he did not understand why Warsaw needed such defense weapons, especially so close to Kaliningrad. After all, the stated reason for introducing a missile defense system in Europe was to guard against a possible missile strike from Iran, not Russia.On Friday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov held a news conference where he summed up the political events of 2009, and provided insight into what to expect for 2010, which included discussion over Poland’s recent decision to risk a conflict with Russia.
“Perhaps there are reasons that these defense systems will be deployed,” Lavrov said. “I don’t have the full information, but nevertheless, the question emerges: Why should Poland strengthen its defenses against Russia? I don’t understand this. But we hope to receive some clarification and we will analyze it then.”
Earlier, Lavrov had said that Warsaw’s decision to base Patriot missiles near the Russian border creates “the impression as if Poland is bracing itself against Russia.”
Earlier this week, Bogdan Klich, the Polish Minister of Defense, announced that US Patriot missiles would be stationed in northern Poland, about 60 miles (100 km) from the border with Kaliningrad, the Russian exclave.
Originally, Warsaw officials said the system would be set up near Warsaw, the Polish capital.
Polish Radio cited Klich as saying the decision to set up a Patriot missile complex near the town of Morag, which is in closer proximity to the Russian border than Warsaw, does not have any considerations of a political or strategic nature.
“In Morag we could offer the best conditions for American soldiers and the best technical base for the equipment,” Klich said.
Morag is already the site of a Polish military base, and Klich said it could easily be adapted to meet the needs of the new missile battery, as well as the US soldiers who would be based in Poland to oversee the system.
Poland and the United States signed a Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) last December laying out the conditions for the deployment of US troops on Polish territory.
The Patriot unit will be manned by some 100 US soldiers, will comprise up to eight missile launchers and is expected to be operational in either March or April.
Poland’s announcement to install US Patriot missiles comes on the heels of a “major revision,” courtesy of US President Barack Obama, to US missile defense plans in Europe. Although precious little information has been made available about the new system, it is believed to entail the deployment of US cruisers and destroyers equipped with sophisticated Aegis radars and antimissile interceptors in the eastern Mediterranean and North Sea.
By 2015, the plan envisions interceptors being deployed on land with additional radars in Europe – possibly in the Caucasus – to monitor short- and medium-range missiles fired from Iran.
The missile shield plan advocated by the Bush administration involved deploying 10 long-range missile interceptors in Poland and a radar base in the Czech Republic. Moscow had vigorously objected to that plan and threatened to deploy missiles in Kaliningrad.
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