WARSAW (AFP) — In a clear swipe at Russia, Poland's President Lech Kaczynski on Tuesday said his country would not give in to threats over its deal with Washington to deploy US missile silos on Polish soil.
"No-one can dictate to Poland what it should do. That's in the past," Kaczynski said in a live prime-time television address ahead of Wednesday's signing of the accord with the United States.
"Our neighbours should now understand that our nation will never give in, nor allow itself to be intimidated," Kaczynski said, in the wake of Russian threats to target Poland in retaliation for hosting a US base.
Kaczynski did not name Russia directly in his speech, but his mention of the "past" was a clear reference to Poland's decades as a Soviet satellite state.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is scheduled to sign the missile deal in Warsaw Wednesday morning in a ceremony which comes after months of negotiations coloured by strident opposition from Russia.
Washington plans by 2011-2013 to base 10 interceptor missiles in Poland plus a radar facility in the neighbouring Czech Republic -- both of them NATO members -- to complete a system already in place in the United States, Greenland and Britain.
Moscow is deeply opposed to the missile plan, and the deal signing comes amid a spike in tensions between Washington and its allies over Russia's conflict with pro-Western Georgia, a country staunchly supported by fellow ex-communist Poland.
Washington insists the shield -- endorsed by all 26 NATO member states earlier this year -- is to fend off potential missile attacks by what it calls "rogue states," a phrase regarded as including Iran.
"No-one should be afraid of this, if they have good intentions towards us or the rest of the West," Kaczynski said.
Moscow, however, considers the system to be a security threat designed to undermine Russia's nuclear deterrent. It has threatened retaliation against the Poles and Czechs, warning they could become a target for Russian attack.
Warsaw and Prague have had rocky relations with Moscow since they broke free from the crumbling communist bloc in 1989 after four decades under the Kremlin's thumb, and ties have worsened since they joined NATO in 1999 and the European Union in 2004.
For Poles, Moscow's current stance also feeds fears from the pre-communist era -- Tsarist Russia ruled a large slice of their country for more than 100 years until they won independence at the end of World War I.
US and Polish negotiators inked a preliminary missile shield deal in Warsaw last Thursday, capping 15 months of negotiations.
Talks had ground on until Washington accepted Poland's demands for extra security guarantees in return for hosting a missile base, including a Patriot missile air-defence system and boosted military ties.
The missile plan also involves the deployment of several hundred US troops in Poland to service the shield facility and Patriots missiles, which will gradually be turned over to the Poles once they have been trained to use them.
Washington and Prague had already sealed the radar deal in July.
Both accords must still be ratified by Polish and Czech lawmakers.
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