Russia concerned over U.S. missile plans in Poland

Russia is not pleased over U.S. plans to deploy permanent missile defenses and air force units in Poland, 100 kilometers from the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry said on Thursday - as per reports in Russian Media - 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."Regarding the U.S. plans to deploy missile defenses elements and air force units in Poland, we are certainly concerned and agitated," Alexander Lukashevich said.

On March 3, the U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton confirmed Washington's military plans in Poland.Wikileaks published U.S. cables in late 2010 showing that NATO was drawing up a plan on the protection of Estonia, Lithuania and Poland from external threats on a request from the United States and Germany.Lukashevich also said the U.S. plans contradicted calls for cooperation at the Russia-NATO Council summit in Lisbon in November 2010.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.

NATO drew up plans in January to defend the Baltic states against Russia, the latest batch of leaked U.S. cables released by Wikileaks show."On January 22, NATO's Military Committee agreed to expand Eagle Guardian, the Alliance's contingency plan for the reinforcement and defense of Poland, to also include the defense and reinforcement of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania," the cable, published on Monday in the Guardian, read.U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton mentions the plan in another cable released on Monday and stresses that it must be kept secret."We see the expansion of Eagle Guardian as a step toward the possible expansion of NATO's other existing country-specific contingency plans into regional plans," the cable said.
May 2010, following the U.S. - Polish Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), the United States opened a temporary military base near the northern Polish town of Morag , 80 km (50 miles) from the Russian border. The base, which will become permanent from 2012, will deploy U.S. Patriot missiles and Standard Missile interceptor SM-3s. Media agencies