(Repeats story published late on Tuesday)
By Arshad Mohammed and Jan Lopatka
PRAGUE, July 8 (Reuters) - The United States and the Czech
Republic signed an agreement on Tuesday to build part of a U.S.
missile defence shield, prompting Russia to say that if deployed
it would respond with "military-technical methods".
The U.S. and Czech foreign ministers toasted with champagne
after signing the accord to place a tracking radar southwest of
Prague as part of a system to protect against the perceived
threat of missile attack from countries such as Iran.
But Russia, in a statement reminiscent of the Cold War,
warned the United States against deploying a missile defence
shield close to its borders.
"If the real deployment of an American strategic missile
defence shield begins close to our borders, then we will be
forced to react not with diplomatic methods, but with
military-technical methods," the Foreign Ministry said in a
statement on its www.mid.ru website.
The deal was also marred by a U.S. failure to seal a
corresponding pact with Poland, where Washington wants to put 10
interceptor rockets that would be guided by the Czech site.
Washington says the shield would defend itself and its
allies against missile attacks from so-called "rogue states" and
points to intelligence suggesting Iran could develop a
long-range missile capable of striking its soil by 2015.
"We face, with the Iranians, and so do our allies and
friends, a growing missile threat that is getting ever longer
and ever deeper, and where the Iranian appetite for nuclear
technology, to this point, is still unchecked," U.S. Secretary
of State Condoleezza Rice said after signing the deal.
However, the deal has its critics in the United States, who
argue that the system has not demonstrated its capability under
real operational conditions, and it is opposed by many in the
Czech Republic, where it requires parliamentary approval.
Under the proposed $3.5 billion system, sensors and radar
would detect an enemy missile in flight and guide a ground-based
interceptor to destroy it without explosives.
ARMS RACE
Many Czechs are wary of any foreign military presence after
the Soviet invasion in 1968 and the ensuing two decades of
occupation. An opinion poll last month showed 68 percent of
Czechs were against the shield, while 24 percent supported it.
"We believe that this could start another arms race," said
Frantisek Smrcka, who with other protesters in the Czech capital
unfurled a huge banner shaped like a bull's-eye.
Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg argued it was
best for the Czech Republic, which is a member of the European
Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, to bind itself
to the West.
"The Czech Republic can feel safe only if on the one hand it
is anchored in the European society -- economically as well as
security-wise -- on the other hand there's our relationship with
the NATO," he said.
Russia, which has opposed the steady march of the Western
security alliance toward its borders, earlier suggested it
called into question U.S.-Russian talks on missile defence
cooperation.
"A step has been taken ... which in our view has not added
to security on the European continent. More than that, it has
complicated problems of security," Interfax news agency quoted a
senior Russian foreign ministry source as saying.
Moscow and Washington had agreed to explore ways of easing
the Kremlin's concerns the shield would be used to spy on and
target Russia's own missile systems. Proposals under discussion
had included stationing Russian military officers at the shield
sites and providing real-time video of activity there.
The shield is a major priority for U.S. President George W.
Bush, who hopes to finalise an accord on the interceptors with
Poland before he leaves office in January. After that, the
system's fate will be decided by his successor.
U.S. officials, who last week said they had a tentative deal
with Poland that required final approval from Warsaw, were
dismayed when Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk publicly said
the pact was unacceptable and that further talks were needed.
The talks have run into a snag over Poland's demands for
billions of dollars to modernise its army and air defences.
Rice told reporters that she had constructive discussions
with the Polish foreign minister in Washington on Monday but she
stressed that the United States had been generous in its offer
and declined to predict whether a deal would be struck.
She all but ruled out the possibility of adding a stop in
Warsaw on her current trip to Prague, Sofia and Tbilisi.
