Russia pledges response to U.S.-Poland shield deal

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia issued a harsh response on Wednesday to the announcement of a deal between Poland and the United States to base part of a U.S. missile defense system on Polish soil.

"Russia in this case will have to react and not only through diplomatic protests," Russia's Foreign Ministry said in a statement published on its website www.mid.ru

The statement described the missile shield as "one of the instruments in an extremely dangerous bundle of American military projects involving the one-sided development of a global missile shield system".

It scorned the decision to base a battery of U.S. Patriot missiles in Poland, saying it would provide no protection against any "imaginary Iranian danger".

(Reporting by Conor Sweeney; editing by Andrew Roche)