US willing to install THAAD anti-missile system in Poland: report
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
Berlin, Jan 25, IRNA
Germany-Poland-US
The United States is apparently ready to send its super modern anti-missile system -- dubbed the Theater High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) -- to Poland, provided Warsaw gives green light to the deployment of the anti-missile batteries on its soil, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper said Thursday.
It cited a report in the Polish daily Rzeczpospolita which quoted the spokesman of the US Missile Defense Agency, Rick Lehner, as saying that Poland could be one of European countries to receive the THAAD batteries since it has already American missile bases.
Lehner stressed that no concrete decision had been made yet.
According to earlier unconfirmed reports, Pentagon officials had already been scouting the Tatra mountains in southern Poland for possible missile base sites.
Poland's President Lech Kaczynski had voiced doubt over granting the US full sovereignty and diplomatic and legal jurisdiction over any eventual base locations in Poland.
Meanwhile Polish Defense Minister Radoslaw Sikorski stressed that America would have to give Poland security guarantees before deploying any missile sites on its territory.
Most Poles oppose the stationing of the US anti-missile system in their country, according to various opinion polls.
The possible stationing of the American anti-missile system in Poland has angered Russia and is seen as snubbing fellow European Union countries, Germany and France.
Poland has faced repeated criticism that as an EU member it should follow European security interests rather than US interests.
OT/2322/1414
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