Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Financial Times
June 18, 2008
Pg. 2
By Daniel Dombey and Demetri Sevastopulo in Washington and Jan Cienski in Warsaw
The US and Lithuania are discussing co-operating on Washington’s missile defence system in a move likely to deepen Russian opposition to the plans.
The preliminary contacts with Vilnius come after months of US negotiations with Poland, which have failed to secure a breakthrough. Those talks have been complicated by tensions with Russia, which says US plans to locate 10 missile interceptors in Warsaw and a radar base in the Czech Republic would affect its strategic deterrent – despite US assurances that the missile bases are intended to deal with a threat from Iran, not Russia.
US diplomats characterise the talks with Lithuania as a fallback plan in case a deal with Poland cannot be reached.
“We are hopeful that we can soon reach a deal with the Poles, but we have always said that there are other options available to us. There are several other European nations that could host the interceptors and Lithuania is one of them,” said Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon press secretary. “That said, we have not entered into negotiations with any other country and hope that does not become necessary.”
Audrius Bruzga, Lithuania’s ambassador to the US, told the Financial Times his country was not in formal negotiations with Washington. “We are in discussions with the US on a variety of issues related to security policy, and missile defence is included,” he said. When asked if Lithuania would host a US interceptor base, he added: “If there was such a proposal, we would look into it and of course consider it carefully.”
In the negotiations between Warsaw and Washington the two sides still appear to be far apart. Poland, which is less concerned about Iran than it is about Russia, insists the US help modernise the Polish military and beef up its air defences with a system such as Patriot missiles if Poland is to host the missile base.
“We are counting on the US treating us like it does other strategic partners in other parts of the world when it comes to talks over the missile shield,” Bogdan Klich, Poland’s defence minister, recently said in Brussels. He compared Poland with US partners such as Egypt and Pakistan, indicating Warsaw wanted tens of millions of dollars to help the Polish military.
But a US official in Warsaw said aid on such a scale was “not on the cards”.
US officials said the talks with Lithuania had been proceeding for about a month and acknowledged the US also recently considered the possibility of the Czech Republic hosting interceptors.
June 18, 2008
Pg. 2
By Daniel Dombey and Demetri Sevastopulo in Washington and Jan Cienski in Warsaw
The US and Lithuania are discussing co-operating on Washington’s missile defence system in a move likely to deepen Russian opposition to the plans.
The preliminary contacts with Vilnius come after months of US negotiations with Poland, which have failed to secure a breakthrough. Those talks have been complicated by tensions with Russia, which says US plans to locate 10 missile interceptors in Warsaw and a radar base in the Czech Republic would affect its strategic deterrent – despite US assurances that the missile bases are intended to deal with a threat from Iran, not Russia.
US diplomats characterise the talks with Lithuania as a fallback plan in case a deal with Poland cannot be reached.
“We are hopeful that we can soon reach a deal with the Poles, but we have always said that there are other options available to us. There are several other European nations that could host the interceptors and Lithuania is one of them,” said Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon press secretary. “That said, we have not entered into negotiations with any other country and hope that does not become necessary.”
Audrius Bruzga, Lithuania’s ambassador to the US, told the Financial Times his country was not in formal negotiations with Washington. “We are in discussions with the US on a variety of issues related to security policy, and missile defence is included,” he said. When asked if Lithuania would host a US interceptor base, he added: “If there was such a proposal, we would look into it and of course consider it carefully.”
In the negotiations between Warsaw and Washington the two sides still appear to be far apart. Poland, which is less concerned about Iran than it is about Russia, insists the US help modernise the Polish military and beef up its air defences with a system such as Patriot missiles if Poland is to host the missile base.
“We are counting on the US treating us like it does other strategic partners in other parts of the world when it comes to talks over the missile shield,” Bogdan Klich, Poland’s defence minister, recently said in Brussels. He compared Poland with US partners such as Egypt and Pakistan, indicating Warsaw wanted tens of millions of dollars to help the Polish military.
But a US official in Warsaw said aid on such a scale was “not on the cards”.
US officials said the talks with Lithuania had been proceeding for about a month and acknowledged the US also recently considered the possibility of the Czech Republic hosting interceptors.