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Czech Republic, US ink missile shield treaty

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-07-08 23:45

PRAGUE  -- US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her Czech counterpart Karel Schwarzenberg signed the main treaty on the stationing of a US radar base on Czech soil here on Tuesday.

Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek (R) meets with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Prague, capital of the Czech Republic, on July 8, 2008. Rice arrived here on Tuesday to sign a treaty on the stationing of a US radar base in the East European country with her Czech counterpart Karel Schwarzenberg . [Xinhua]

The treaty still need to be approved by Czech parliament and President Vaclav Klaus. Negotiations about other agreements related to the main treaty have not been completed yet.

The United States has planned to build a radar base in the Brdymilitary district, some 90 km southwest of the Czech capital Prague, along with an interceptor missile base in neighboring Poland.

Local reports said up to 70 percent of Czech citizens oppose the project.

Russia is also strongly opposed to the deployment of the missile defense system, saying the plan poses a threat to its strategic interests.

Russia still perceives the plan to build elements of the US anti-missile shield in Central Europe as a threat to its own security, Russian general Yevgeni Buzhinski said in his speech in Lidovy dum, headquarters of the Czech opposition Social Democrats (CSSD) in Prague on Tuesday.

Buzhinski, who is in charge of negotiations on the issue, said Russia still has doubts about the alleged danger with which the project is justified.