Poland welcomes U.S. missiles

WARSAW, Poland, Feb. 20 (UPI) -- The U.S. government's plan to base missiles in Poland ends any chance Russia could bring the country back into its sphere, the Polish prime minister said.

Jaroslaw Kaczynski said Nikolai Solovtsov, who commands Russia's missile forces, was obviously trying to intimidate Poland when he said his country would be able to track any U.S. anti-ballistic missiles, the Russian news agency Novosti reported.

The United States plans to deploy missiles in Poland and a radar system in the Czech Republic as a shield against Iran and North Korea.

Kaczynski suggested that Russia has been hoping Poland would turn to Moscow as a defense partner or was even planning to put pressure on its neighbor.

"But following the deployment of a missile defense base here, the chances of such undue influence arising will be greatly reduced for at least several decades," Kaczynski said.