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Czechs Accept Modified Missile Shield Role

New York Times

2009-10-25

PRAGUE — The Czech Republic agreed on Friday to host elements of the reformulated American missile defense system after Vice President Joseph R. Biden flew here to patch up relations damaged when President Obama canceled plans to deploy a sophisticated radar station on Czech soil.

Jan Fischer, the Czech prime minister, said his country would participate in the new anti-missile shield, although neither he nor Mr. Biden gave details about how. Poland agreed during an earlier stop in Mr. Biden’s swing through the region to accept some of the mobile SM-3 interceptors at the heart of Mr. Obama’s reduced plan.

“I used the opportunity to express our readiness as a NATO member to participate because the new architecture is going to be NATO-based and the Czech Republic is ready to participate,” Mr. Fischer said at an appearance with Mr. Biden. The vice president said a senior defense team would visit Prague next month to discuss how to structure that participation.

The deals securing Polish and Czech involvement in the new system may go a long way toward reassuring Eastern Europe of America’s continuing commitment to its security. Many in this region interpreted Mr. Obama’s decision to scrap former President George W. Bush’s missile defense system, which was to have been based in Poland and the Czech Republic, as appeasement of Russia, which had strongly objected to it as a threat to its own nuclear arsenal.

Mr. Obama denied that, but his administration did not inform Polish and Czech leaders of the policy shift until just before the announcement, fueling the discontent. As news of his decision was beginning to leak last month, Mr. Obama scrambled to reach Mr. Fischer by telephone after midnight to tell him first.

The Bush plan called for stationing 10 ground-based interceptors in Poland and a so-called X-band radar in the Czech Republic as part of a system aimed at shooting down any future Iranian intercontinental ballistic missiles. A new assessment last spring concluded that Iran was not advancing quickly in developing such long-range missiles but had made considerable progress in building short- and medium-range missiles.

The plan advanced by Mr. Obama would use smaller, mobile SM-3 interceptors to counter short- and medium-range missiles, based at first aboard Aegis-equipped ships and later on land in Eastern Europe. Although Mr. Obama attributed the switch to the changing assessment of the Iranian threat and the availability of new technology, the decision was welcomed in Russia as a concession and bemoaned in Eastern Europe for the same reason.

That dismay was reflected by a statement issued here by former Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, who worked closely with Mr. Bush on missile defense despite public opposition at home. Mr. Obama’s efforts to improve ties with Russia, Mr. Topolanek said in the statement, reported by The Associated Press, raised questions about “whether the United States is stepping back from the region of Central and Eastern Europe in exchange for better relations with Russia.”

How firm Mr. Fischer’s commitment will be remains to be seen. The new prime minister took over as a caretaker in April until national elections next spring. The missile defense system and the question of Czech participation could be a factor in the campaign.

Mr. Biden’s stop here was the last of three in the region following visits to Poland and Romania. After a day of meetings, the vice president planned to return to Washington on Friday evening.

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