(Adds Rice quotes, analyst)
By Arshad Mohammed and Jan Lopatka
PRAGUE, July 8 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice said talks with Poland on a European missile
shield remained unresolved, hours before she was to sign a
treaty in the Czech Republic on Prague's part of the accord.
The Bush administration wants to build the radar component
of the missile defence system southwest of the Czech capital
Prague, despite heavy public opposition in the central European
country as well as protests by Russia.
The radar would be part of a shield which the United States
says would protect it and its European allies against potential
missile attacks from foes such as Iran.
Washington also wants to put 10 interceptor rockets in
neighbouring Poland, but talks on that have run into
difficulties over Poland's demands for billions of dollars to
modernise its army and air defences.
Rice said she had constructive talks with Polish Foreign
Minister Radoslaw Sikorski on Monday but some issues were
unresolved. She declined to predict whether the two sides would
reach an agreement.
"I believe strongly that we are at a place where these
negotiations need to come to a conclusion," Rice told reporters
as she flew to Prague.
"I don't think that it really makes sense for me to go to
Poland, because we have had the meeting in Washington, and now
we are going to have to see if we can close the remaining gap."
Russia sees the shield as a threat, and has said it will aim
its nuclear missiles at central Europe if the shield is
deployed. The United States says the 10 rockets are no match for
Russia's nuclear arsenal.
Rice said the United States was willing to make arrangements
to make the system transparent to Moscow, but Russia would also
have to discuss this directly with the Czech Republic.
"We want them to have a way of absolutely seeing for
themselves what we know to be true, which is that these systems
are in no way aimed at Russia," Rice said.
BASES NEAR RUSSIA
Analysts say the planned bases in the former Soviet bloc
would raise U.S. security interests in the region at a time when
Russia grows more assertive about its role on the global stage
and the U.S. push could bring a response from Moscow.
"Moscow, of course, sees the move as a provocation and as a
long-term security threat, and will seek to extract a hefty
geopolitical or strategic price for going along with this," said
Alexandr Kliment, an analyst at political risk consultancy
Eurasia Group.
"After all, this is not the 1990s anymore -- the days when
the Kremlin was powerless to resist unpopular U.S. foreign
policy agendas are long gone."
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said after meeting his
U.S. counterpart George W. Bush on Monday the two countries
should keep up dialogue despite failing to overcome differences
over the missile shield.
The shield plan still faces many hurdles, including
widespread public opposition and obstacles to ratification by
the Czech parliament, where the three-party cabinet has just 100
seats in the 200-seat lower house. Several backbenchers have
declared they would vote against it.
The government must try to win over independents to win the
vote, which may come only after a new U.S. administration takes
over from Bush in January.
Disputes over the radar have alienated many Czechs, wary of
any foreign military presence after the Soviet invasion in 1968
and the following two decades of occupation.
An opinion poll last month showed 68 percent of Czechs were
against the shield, while 24 percent supported it.
Rice will also travel to Bulgaria and Georgia on her
European trip this week.
(Reporting by Arshad Mohammed; Writing by Jan Lopatka and
Michael Winfrey; Editing by Dominic Evans)
