U.S. offers to keep missile shield on stand-by

By Kristin Roberts

PRAGUE (Reuters) - The United States has proposed delaying the activation of parts of its European missile defense shield if Russia cooperates on the project, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Tuesday.

The U.S. plans to place interceptor missiles in Poland and a radar system in the Czech Republic as part of a system Washington says is needed to counter possible attacks from "rogue states" including Iran and North Korea.

Russia argues the system would be a threat to its security.

Gates said the possible delay was one of the proposals he and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice put forward in talks with Russian officials to try to ease Moscow's concern and win its cooperation over the defense system.

"We continue to encourage the Russians to partner with us in missile defense and continue our efforts to reassure them that these facilities are not aimed at Russia and could benefit Russia," he said.

Gates said activation of the missile shield could depend on "definitive proof" of a threat.

"We would consider tying together the activation of the sites in Poland and the Czech Republic with definitive proof of the threat, in other words, Iranian missile testing and so on," Gates said.

"We have not fully developed this proposal, but the idea was we would go forward with the negotiations, we would complete the negotiations, we would develop the sites, build the sites but perhaps we would delay activating them until there was concrete proof of the threat from Iran," he told reporters in Prague.

The Americans also offered to allow the Russians to maintain a presence at the Czech site, to promote transparency. Gates, after meeting with Czech officials, said such an agreement would not be completed without Prague's approval.

"Nothing will be done without consent of the Czech government," he said.

RUSSIAN OPPOSITION

Under Washington's best-case scenario, the European shield would be fully operational in 2013. The Bush administration will be long over by then, leaving to the next president the responsibility to fulfill such promises.

President Vladimir Putin said the United States should use a Russian-operated early warning radar in Azerbaijan instead.

U.S. officials view that as a potential addition to their plan, not a substitute.

Washington's negotiations are ongoing with both the Czech Republic and Poland. Talks with Poland may be delayed after last weekend's election brought to power a party that has promised tougher negotiations over the U.S. plans.