Poland sees next U.S. president backing shield plan

AVIGNON, France (Reuters) - Poland's foreign minister said on Friday he was confident that either U.S. presidential candidate once elected would push on with a missile shield plan in eastern Europe strongly opposed by Russia.

Radoslaw Sikorski said he had discussed with both John McCain and Barack Obama the proposed siting of shield components in Poland and the Czech Republic intended to intercept potential strikes from Iran and other so-called "rogue states".

"I have spoken personally to both Senator McCain and twice by telephone to Senator Obama. We are confident that President McCain would continue with the deal. Senator Obama told me that he is conceptually in favor of missile defence," he said.

"My interpretation of that is that it is a higher than 50 percent chance that he (Obama) would go along because we are pretty confident that it is not directed at Russia," he told reporters at an EU meeting in Avignon, France.

Days after Russia's military intervention in Georgia this month, Poland and the United States signed a long-awaited deal to station parts of the shield on Polish soil.

The 10 interceptor rockets in Poland, along with a radar complex in the Czech Republic, will form the European part of a global system Washington says will be able to shoot down missiles from enemy states or groups such as al Qaeda.

Despite U.S. assurances to the contrary, Russia sees the ballistic missile shield as a threat to its own security and some Russian politicians and generals have said Poland must be prepared for a preventive attack on the site in the future.

(Reporting by Ingrid Melander; writing by Mark John)