Date
Author
Виктор ВОЛОДИН; Александр ТИМОФЕЕВ
Source
Preserved copy
Translated material
Radar instead of visas
Americans, Czechs and Poles are preparing for Putin's arrival at the NATO summit
In the coming days, the Czech Republic and Poland will hold decisive negotiations with the United States on the deployment of American missile defense system bases on their territory. Today, Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek will discuss this topic in Washington with President George Bush. Key consultations on missile defense with the participation of American representatives will also be held in Warsaw today and on Friday.Polish Defense Minister Bogdan Klich said Washington had promised to submit “written proposals” for modernizing the Polish army. If these proposals suit the Poles, then during his visit to the United States on March 8-10, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk will be able to give official consent to the deployment of an American base in Poland.
After the visits of Topolanek and Tusk to America, documents on the deployment of missile defense bases may be signed as early as early April at the NATO summit in Bucharest. At the same summit, the issue of granting Georgia and Ukraine the status of candidates for NATO membership will be discussed. The deployment of missile defense facilities in Eastern Europe and the expansion of NATO are the main irritants in relations between Russia, which sees this as a threat to its security, and the West. The final agreements between the Americans, Poles and Czechs will create an unfavorable background for the expected participation of Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Romanian NATO summit .
Yesterday, the International Herald Tribune reported that the Russian president invited his American counterpart George Bush to leave Romania for Sochi “for a one-on-one conversation” after the NATO summit. But Washington “did not publicly acknowledge the existence of such an invitation and did not make public its response.”
Apparently, today's meeting between Mirek Topolanek and George Bush will culminate in an agreement on the deployment of an American radar station at the Brdy training ground, 90 km southwest of Prague. The Czech Prime Minister is not going to sign documents during the visit, however, according to him, agreements could be ready by the end of the week.
The only thing that can slow down the process is disagreements between the United States and Poland, which has requested, in exchange for the deployment of a dozen American interceptor missiles, a batch of the latest air defense systems - Patriot-3 or THAAD. Mirek Topolanek said that the Czech Republic will agree to deploy the radar only after the Poles reach an agreement with the Americans.
The United States approached the Czech Republic with a request to deploy a missile defense radar in January 2007. It is assumed that an American radar station will be transferred to Brdy from Kwajalein Atoll (Marshall Islands). The total cost of moving and upgrading the radar will be approximately half a billion dollars. After launch in 2013, the radar will serve 200 people, including 120 US military personnel. The former chief of the Russian Main Staff of the Strategic Missile Forces, Colonel General Viktor Esin, told Vremya Novostey that, according to Russian data, this radar is “capable of not only detecting missiles and warheads separating from them in flight, but also directing anti-missiles at targets.” . He explained that this radar with a range of 4,5 thousand to 6 thousand km will directly control anti-missile defenses in Poland. According to the general, at first only the US president will be able to give the command to launch interceptor missiles stationed in Poland, but in the future these powers may be transferred to the NATO commander.
The Czech public is very wary of the deployment of an American radar. To sweeten the pill, Prime Minister Topolanek got the US to cancel visas for Czech citizens. Yesterday, the head of the Czech Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ivan Langer, signed a corresponding memorandum with US Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff. Visas for Czechs will be canceled in August, but there will be no complete freedom - instead of interviews at the embassy, Czechs will have to fill out detailed applications on the Internet before traveling, after which the Americans may refuse entry to applicants. The Czech-American visa negotiations have caused great irritation in the European Commission, since such bilateral agreements between the new EU members and Washington undermine European unity and prevent Brussels from agreeing with the United States on common entry rules for citizens of all EU countries.