Rice signs missile shield deal with Poland
Wednesday, 20 Aug 2008 17:37
Condoleezza Rice has signed the controversial missile shield deal (Nato)
US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice has signed a controversial missile shield deal with Poland today.
Ms Rice met with Polish foreign minister Radek Sikorski to sign the deal in Warsaw.
Speaking afterwards, she said today marked a "very special day" and illustrated the deepening friendship between the United States and Poland.
"In troubled times the most important thing is to have friends," Ms Rice told the Polish parliament.
She said that the missile shield would be important in defending against "future threats", emphasising that it was "aimed at no-one".
"It will help both the alliance, and Poland and the US to respond to the coming threats," the secretary of state said.
"The missile defence is aimed at no one, it is in our defence that we do this," she added.
The deal will involve the installation of ten US missile interceptors on Polish soil, just 115 miles from the Russian border.
The agreement has been met by considerable criticism from Moscow, with Russian president Dmitry Medvedev publicly condemning it last week.
Mr Medvedev said it was a "fairytale" that the missiles would be trained at "pariah states", stating they were instead aimed at Russia.
The deal was "sad for everyone" in
Europe, he added.
Relations between Russian and the US are continuing to be strained over Moscow's actions in the conflict with Georgia over South Ossetia.
Washington has maintained the defence system is aimed at protecting the US and Europe from potential attacks from
Middle Eastern states like
Iran.
Ms Rice earlier moved to reassure critics by claiming that the deal was a "purely defensive" measure.
The Polish parliament must now ratify the agreement.