Polish pres. urges quick OK of shield deal

WARSAW, Poland, Aug. 3 (UPI) -- Poland must sign a treaty on deployment of missiles and radar for a U.S. missile shield system before the U.S. election, President Lech Kaczynski said Sunday.

U.S. plans call for deployment of 10 missiles and a radar installation in the Czech Republic, part of a system intended to shield Europe and North America from possible attacks. Poland has been urging the United States to spend billions of dollars to upgrade Poland's air defenses in return for permission to deploy interceptor missiles in Poland, RIA Novosti reported.

Kaczynski told a TV audience in Poland Sunday Warsaw must sign the shield treaty before U.S. voters choose a successor to President George W. Bush in November.

"The missile shield is a good solution (for Poland)," Kaczynski said.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg have already signed an agreement on deployment of missile-tracking radar in the Czech Republic.

Russia has said if the system is deployed near Russian territory, a "military-technical" response would be in order, RIA Novosti said.