The Czech government has announced that it wants to host a large US military site for the Pentagon's much-criticized missile shield system, confirming for the first time that Washington had asked Prague for permission to build a radar site for the national missile defense program.
Russia had warned last month that any extension of the US missile project to eastern Europe would force it to review its military planning.
In one of his first acts since coming to power, Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek said that building the facilities in the Czech Republic, the first extension of the "son of star wars" project beyond the US, would boost European security.
Topolanek referred only to a radar site, a strong indication that the Pentagon is hoping to locate the bigger part of the European project -- a large missile interceptor silo that would theoretically fire off rockets to destroy incoming missiles -- in neighboring Poland.
The US demand was one of the first issues Topolanek has had to handle after becoming prime minister. The Czech Republic has effectively been without a government since elections became deadlocked seven months ago.
The centre-right leader cobbled together a weak coalition and won a parliamentary confidence vote on Friday courtesy of two opposition defectors.
As soon as Topolanek won the vote, the US tabled its request.
"We are convinced that a possible deployment of the radar station on our territory is in our interest," he said. "It will increase the security of the Czech Republic and Europe."
New Defense Minister Vlasta Parkanova, a Christian Democrat, reinforced support for the contentious scheme, while acknowledging public reservations.
"I am aware that locating an allied radar site on our territory is a sensitive issue for Czech citizens. Some threats can be confronted only in cooperation with our partners, and an attack by a ballistic missile is among them ... We should not consider this issue ideologically but consider whether it raises the security of the Czech Republic and all its citizens," Parkanova said.
The US has been quietly negotiating with the Czechs and the Poles for almost four years, while scouting southern Poland and areas east of the Czech capital, Prague, for suitable missile defense sites. Both centre-right governments in Prague and Warsaw are strongly pro-Washington. If the US plan gets a green light, the spending on the Polish and Czech projects is likely to total US$1.6 billion with the bases built by 2011.
The US has already built two missile interceptor sites, in California and Alaska. The proposed project is the first in Europe. It has alarmed Russia, which claims it is the target of the missile shield. The US says the installations are aimed at thwarting potential North Korean long-range missiles, while the European sites guard against long-range missiles from Iran or other regional foes.
Up to two-thirds of Poles and Czechs are against taking part in the missile shield, according to opinion surveys, and the government in Warsaw, while in favor, has opposed the US terms. The Pentagon insists both would be sovereign US bases with the staff stationed there, some 500 in total, not subject to Polish or Czech law.
"I approach the problem of extra-territoriality with reserve, I won't hide that," Polish President Lech Kaczynski, said last year.
The Kremlin argues that the missile shield is doomed to failure and will merely succeed in stoking tension and mistrust.
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