Translated material
Anti-missile game
American missile defense system is being sent to Lithuania
Yesterday, the Russian-American dispute over the deployment of US missile defense elements in Europe took a new dangerous direction. For the first time, information was actively discussed at the official level that an American missile defense base could appear not in Poland , but much closer to Russia, on the territory of the former USSR - in Lithuania. This will give Moscow additional reasons to believe that American installations are directed not against a hypothetical Iranian threat, but against Russian nuclear missile potential.The reason for the controversy was the sensational statement made the day before by Witold Waszczykowski, deputy head of the Polish Foreign Ministry and Warsaw's representative at the negotiations with the Americans on missile defense. He said that the United States is already negotiating with Lithuania about deploying a dozen American interceptor missiles on its territory if negotiations with Poland fail. “I can confirm that the United States is negotiating with Lithuania. The Minister of Defense of Lithuania himself made such a proposal in May, and Poland is aware of this,” Mr. Waszczykowski emphasized.
Vilnius reacted to these words with surprise. “Lithuania would explore the possibility of participating in the missile defense system if it received such an offer. Then we will need to weigh the pros and cons,” Lithuanian Defense Minister Juozas Olekas said yesterday. He said that Vilnius is closely following the progress of negotiations between Washington and Warsaw on the possible deployment of elements of the American missile defense system in Poland, since “this shield is very important for the security of the United States, Europe and Lithuania.” However, the minister denied the assertion that Lithuania had already entered into these negotiations. The Lithuanian Foreign Ministry stated that the country is “actively interested in this project, is consulting with allies and partners, but is not conducting negotiations on the deployment of elements of a missile defense system on its territory.”
Meanwhile, the Lithuanian Defense Minister first voiced his country's interest in the missile defense system back in May 2007 during a meeting in Chisinau with his Moldovan counterpart Valeriu Plesca. Then the head of the Lithuanian military department said: “There is a threat that in a few years technical capabilities for an attack will appear in unstable countries. The world must contain this process." At the same time, Mr. Olekas referred to the experience of the Czech Republic and Poland, which are negotiating with Washington about the deployment of US missile defense elements on their territory.
“We had general conversations with the Lithuanian authorities on the topic of missile defense,” admitted US State Department spokesman Tom Casey. “But, of course, we expect and hope that we will be able to sign an agreement with Poland in the near future, I don’t think there is any point in discussing alternative locations.”
Director of the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies Ruslan Pukhov believes that the Lithuanian minister’s statement about his readiness to consider proposals for missile defense “should alert Russia.” In a conversation with Vremya Novostei, the expert noted that “Russian diplomacy should warn Vilnius that the deployment of a US missile defense system on its territory will be fraught with serious political and economic consequences for Lithuania.” Yesterday, the Russian Foreign Ministry took into account the statement of Tom Casey. “We have no data confirming the information that the United States is negotiating with Lithuania,” they said on Smolenskaya Square.
The United States is unlikely to seriously consider the possibility of replacing Poland with Lithuania. “Talks about consultations with Vilnius on missile defense may be an attempt by Washington to put pressure on Warsaw and make it more compliant on the issue of installing American missile defense,” Mr. Pukhov believes. Some analysts believe that information about the possibility of deploying a US missile defense system in Lithuania could have been launched by Warsaw itself, wanting to force the Americans to “pay in full.”
In 2007, the governments of the Czech Republic and Poland began negotiations with Washington on the deployment of components of the US missile defense system on their territory. In May 2008, Prague gave official consent to the installation of an American radar on its territory. The corresponding agreement will be signed in July. But the Americans have not yet been able to agree on price with Poland. For the creation of a missile defense base, Warsaw demanded from Washington a large-scale modernization of its entire air defense system, including the supply of at least two batteries of the latest Patriot PAK-3 anti-aircraft missile systems. The Poles need them to counter Russian missiles that could be aimed at a future American base. Warsaw requested $20 billion in aid, but the United States agreed to provide only $50 million.
The fact that Polish-American negotiations are stalling was confirmed on May 12 at a press conference by Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk: “So far, the American proposals on the missile defense issue do not suit Warsaw.” “If there are conditions favorable to the Polish Army, there will be a missile defense system in Poland. Otherwise, it will not be possible to reach an agreement,” the prime minister promised. The influential Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza noted that if Washington and Warsaw fail to reach an agreement by mid-July, the United States will begin to look for another location for the base of its interceptor missiles.