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Russia upset by U.S. base plans

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published January 21, 2007

PRAGUE, Czech Republic - The United States has asked the Czech Republic to host a radar base that would be part of a global missile defense system, the prime minister announced Saturday, drawing a warning from Russia of retaliatory actions.

U.S. officials say the system could defend Europe against missiles fired by states such as Iran and North Korea. But the Kremlin said the military balance in Europe could be at stake and said the development risked a new arms race.

Independent defense experts have said the ground-based missile defense system is still years from being able to protect against long-range missile attacks.

Washington declined comment on Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek's statement. But the U.S. has been negotiating with Poland and the Czech Republic, both former communist states now in NATO, as it explores setting up missile defense sites in Eastern Europe.

The U.S. has missile interceptor bases in Alaska and California. It activated a powerful X-band radar site in northern Japan as part of the system last September, but so far has no antimissile weapons based outside U.S. territory.

The U.S. request that the Czech Republic host only an X-band radar facility could indicate Washington is considering putting launchers for antimissile missiles in Poland.

Czech authorities refused to comment on Poland's possible role. Topolanek said only that he would discuss the issue with his Polish counterpart, Jaroslaw Kaczynski.

Topolanek said his government would name a committee in the next week to consider the U.S. request and a decision could take several months. Czech opposition parties have spoken against the defense system, and the premier's governing coalition does not have enough Parliament votes to pass measures on its own.

In Moscow, Andrei Kokoshin, the former Russian Security Council chief who now heads Parliament's committee for ties with former Soviet bloc nations, said Czech approval of the plan would "not pass without consequences."

Russian lawmakers dealing with security issues "will recommend taking retaliatory measures" that would "help maintain strategic stability and ensure the national security of Russia and our friends and allies," Kokoshin was quoted as telling the Interfax news agency.

[Last modified January 21, 2007, 01:03:39]