RIA Novosti
Moscow, March 27 (RIA Novosti) Poland has said it will allow inspections of US missile base on its soil by Russian military personnel only on a reciprocal basis. “We cannot allow permanent presence of representatives of the Russian Federation at a proposed (missile defence) base,” Defence Minister Bogdan Klich said in an interview with the daily Dziennik Wednesday.

“A US base, if it is built, will not be an extra-territorial object, but will be fully controlled by Poland,” he said. “We can only agree to temporary inspections and on a reciprocal basis.”

In exchange, Poland would like access to Russia’s missile defence system, he added.

Washington has said its proposed missile defence shield in Poland and the Czech Republic would not be aimed at Russia, but at countering possible attacks from ‘rogue states’ such as Iran and North Korea.

On March 18, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited Moscow with Defence Secretary Robert Gates for talks with Russia’s Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

During the meeting, the US proposed a series of confidence building measures to Russia, including an offer to allow Moscow to monitor the proposed missile bases in Central Europe.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called the new proposals “useful and important”.

Russia had earlier proposed its radar stations at Gabala in Azerbaijan, and Armavir in south Russia, as alternatives to the US plans.
RIA Novosti