INTERVIEW-April start for Poland-US anti-missile talks

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WARSAW, April 5 (Reuters) - Poland said on Thursday it would start formal talks on the deployment of parts of a U.S. anti-missile system on its territory this month and that it thought the negotiations would last several months at least.

Polish Foreign Minister Anna Fotyga told Reuters in an interview discussions on the system, for which Washington wants to site 10 rocket batteries in Poland and a radar system in the Czech Republic, were technically very difficult.

"The process is extremely complicated," she said.

The U.S. defence system plan has angered Russia, which says it would upset the post-Cold War balance of power.

Fotyga said talks would start in April and would likely end in the middle of this year, although they could take a lot longer.

She said Poland would be interested in a bilateral security deal with the United States but declined to give details.

"Many countries already have discussed these issues with the United States. We would like this to be accompanied by broader political arrangements as well," she said.

The central European defence installations are part of a multi-billion-dollar global defence system that Washington says would be able to shoot down rockets from countries that it regards as "rogue states", such as Iran and North Korea.

Critics also say the system, to be controlled by the Pentagon, may not work and at best would only partly protect Europe, leaving the southeast of the continent vulnerable.

They also argue the deployment could split NATO, creating a two-tier defence policy, with some countries covered by the system and others.

SECURITY FOR ALL

But the centre-right governments in Poland and the Czech Republic both appear to believe that placing elements of the system on their soil would strengthen their ties with Washington in the long-term and so be of strategic benefit.

Fotyga said Warsaw believed the anti-missile system would protect all of Europe and other NATO countries, and that it could be fully integrated into NATO at some time in the future.

She said she simply did not understand European critics who had suggested the defence system would spark a new arms race or seriously damage relations with Russia.

Russia and many other European states had been consulted over the plans and there was no alternative aerial defence system on offer, she said.

"There is no NATO system, while there is missile defence already. It should be expanded," she said.

"This system is designed to increase the security of Poland, the United States and international security including the security of Europe and NATO states."

Polish officials have said Warsaw wants Washington to provide Poland with Patriot missiles or similar air protection in order to defend its cities from attack in return for hosting the U.S. system.

(Additional reporting by Gabriela Baczynska)

Keywords: POLAND MINISTER/SHIELD