Czech PM: Prague doesn't want return to Russian sway
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Czech Republic will not ask Russia for permission to site a U.S. radar station on its soil and rejects returning to Moscow's sphere of influence, Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek said on Tuesday.
On a visit to Washington to discuss details of a plan to host part of a U.S. anti-missile defense system, Topolanek said the Czech Republic would cooperate with Russia on many issues but would decide its internal affairs alone.
The U.S. administration wants to deploy 10 interceptor missiles in Poland and a radar station in the Czech Republic as part of a global shield against long-range ballistic missiles from "rogue" nations such as Iran or North Korea.
Kremlin officials, saying they believe the shield would be directed against Russia, have threatened to target any parts of the defense system deployed in Poland and the Czech Republic.
Topolanek said Moscow was trying to sow confusion among NATO allies, especially those like the Czech Republic that once were members of the old Moscow-dominated Warsaw Pact and were occupied by Soviet forces during the Cold War.
"We do not want to belong again to the sphere of Russian influence," he said. "We do not want to belong to a group of countries which have to ask Russia for permission if they want to ensure their own defense."
Being part of NATO, which the Czech Republic joined in 1999, allowed Prague to have "at least an equal position with Russia" in such matters, he said.
Topolanek will meet President George W. Bush on Wednesday.
Earlier on Tuesday he met Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, who said a U.S. visa requirement could be dropped for Czechs as soon as September.
Before leaving for Washington, Topolanek said both the Czech republic and Poland wanted to finalize plans on missile defense in time for a NATO summit in Bucharest in April.
Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski, on a visit to Washington earlier this month, said his country had agreed in principle to host part of the system after getting assurances that Washington would help Poland with other defense needs.
Topolanek, in a speech to the conservative Heritage Foundation on Tuesday, said some opposition to the missile defense project had been stirred in Europe by "very skillful propaganda of the Russian federation."
He warned against complacency he said was too common among Europeans who think they will never have to again defend themselves. "Unfortunately I think we are again seeing another ghost in Europe, the ghost of appeasement," he said.
(Editing by Bill Trott)
