"As
was announced by our two presidents in December, we plan
to establish a new permanent U.S. air detachment in Poland,
build missile defenses in Poland, and as agreed at the NATO
summit, develop a contingency plan in the region,"
Clinton told journalists ahead of talks with Polish Foreign
Minister Radoslaw Sikorski in Washington.
In 2009, the United States decided to deploy several F-16
fighter jets and Hercules transport aircraft in Poland.
Polish Defense Minister Bogdan Klich has said the United
States was also planning to deploy
Patriot missile defense systems in
Poland at a base just 100 kilometers from the Russian exclave
of Kaliningrad.
Moscow has long opposed the deployment of U.S. missile defenses
near its borders, arguing they would be a security threat
and could destroy the strategic balance of forces in Europe.
The
United States scrapped earlier plans in September last year
for an anti-ballistic-missile defense system in the Czech
Republic and Poland. Moscow welcomed the move, and Russian
President Dmitry Medvedev said later that Russia would drop
plans to deploy Iskander-M tactical missiles in its Kaliningrad
Region, which borders NATO members Poland and Lithuania.
Russia
and NATO agreed to cooperate on the so called Euro missile
defense system at the Lisbon summit. NATO insists there
should be two independent systems that exchange information,
while Russia favors a joint system.
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