The U.S. plan included 10 long-range interceptor missiles in Poland and a radar station in the Czech Republic. That plan will almost certainly be scrapped, Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza reports. Washington is now looking for alternative locations including in the Balkans, Israel and Turkey, the daily says, citing U.S. administration officials and lobbyists based in Washington.

"The signals that the generals in the Pentagon are sending are absolutely clear: as far as missile defense is concerned, the current U.S. administration is searching for other solutions than the previously bases in Poland and the Czech Republic," Riki Ellison, chairman of the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance, a Washington-based lobby group, told the newspaper.

The system, meant to be ready by 2013, was aimed at defending the United States and its allies in Europe against nuclear attacks from rogue states such as Iran.

The Kremlin, however, says the planned location in Eastern Europe is compromising Russia's national security and a further sign of NATO's eastward expansion. Russia believes the alliance has turned from a security coalition into a geopolitical tool used by the United States to increase its political and economic clout in Eastern Europe.

Washington had promised to alleviate Russia's concerns and integrate Moscow in the system as much as possible, with proposals having included stationing Russian officers at the sites to monitor them. However, no cooperation ever materialized.

U.S. President Barack Obama has shaken up foreign policy and tried to improve ties with the Kremlin. He has previously signaled a willingness to talk about the missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic. Obama's predecessor, George W. Bush, had already struck deals with Warsaw in 2008.

U.S.-Russian relations were challenged on several other fronts over the past years, with differences over human rights, the independence of the former Serbian province of Kosovo and last year's Russian-Georgian war.

earlier related report
US set to scrap Poland, Czech missile plan: report
Warsaw (AFP) Aug 27 - Washington will scrap plans to put anti-missile bases in Poland and the Czech Republic and is looking at alternatives including Israel and Turkey, a Polish newspaper reported Thursday, citing US officials.

The US plan, intended for defence against attacks from Iran, has met with fierce objections from Russia, which regarded the eastern European bases as a threat to its own security.

Leading Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza cited administration officials and lobbyists in Washington in support of its story.

Pro-missile shield lobbyist Riki Ellison said the signals from the Pentagon were "absolutely clear", with US authorities scouting for alternatives sites, the paper reported.

No immediate comment was available from US, Polish or Czech officials.

Gazeta Wyborcza said Washington was now considering deploying anti-missile interceptors on naval vessels and at bases in Israel and Turkey, as well as potentially in the Balkans.

Ellison told the paper that a conference last week, US generals "never once" mentioned the plan, which was initiated by the previous US administration of President George W. Bush.

After taking office this year, Bush's successor Barack Obama launched a review of the controversial system.

Gazeta Wyborcza cited a source at the US Congress, whom it did not identify, as saying that Washington had been "testing the water" among lawmakers for weeks about scrapping the eastern European part of the plan.

In 2008, Warsaw and Washington struck a deal on deploying 10 US long-range interceptor missiles in Poland as part of a global air-defence system.

The system, which was meant to be operational by 2013, also foresaw a radar base in the Czech Republic, Poland's southern neighbour.

Washington said the goal was to ward off potential Iranian attacks, pointing to Tehran's nuclear programme.

But Moscow condemned what it said was a US threat on its doorstep and threatened to train nuclear warheads on Poland and the Czech Republic.

Warsaw and Prague broke from the crumbling communist bloc in 1989 and joined NATO 10 years later.

(AFP Report)

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