Warsaw and Washington signed a deal today to deploy part of a US missile shield in Poland, insisting the aim is to ward off Iranian attacks, despite deep Russian anger at the move.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Poland's Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski inked the accord at an official ceremony in Warsaw.
"This will help us to deal with the new threats of the 21st century, of long-range missile threats from countries like Iran or from North Korea," Rice told reporters ahead of the ceremony.
"It is defensive and is not aimed at anyone. It is nonetheless a system that establishes firmly again, and reaffirms, our cooperation and relationship with Poland. It will deepen our defence cooperation and it will deepen our ability to deal with threats," she said.
Washington plans between 2011 to 2013 to base 10 interceptor missiles in Poland plus a radar facility in the neighbouring Czech Republic, both NATO members since 1999, to complete a system already in place in the United States, Greenland and Britain. Russia has refused to accept the US argument that the missile shield, which was endorsed by all 26 NATO member states earlier this year, is meant to fend off potential missile attacks by what Washington calls "rogue states".
Moscow had already dubbed the shield a security threat designed to undermine Russia's nuclear deterrent.