BRUSSELS, Jun 20, BNS – The United States and Estonia have had no contacts as regards possible placing in Estonia of components of the missile defense shield that the United States is planning to set up in Europe, the prime minister of Estonia said on Friday.
“No. It’s only in the newspapers that I’ve read about that Lithuanian option,” Prime Minister Andrus Ansip told BNS in Brussels when asked if Washington had approached also Estonia as a potential host country of the system’s components.
The New York Times in its Thursday edition said citing US officials that Washington was to seek out Lithuania as a possible alternative location to deploy the antiballistic missile shield now that Poland was balking at further negotiations with the United States.
“We have had general conversations with the government of Lithuania about missile defense issues,” said Tom Casey, the State Department’s deputy spokesman.
“But, certainly, we expect and hope that we will be able to conclude an agreement with Poland in the near future. And we do expect it will work out, so I don’t think there’s going to be a need for any alternatives,” he said.
But Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon spokesman, said Tuesday that “there are other options available to us.”
“There are several European countries that could host the interceptors, and Lithuania is one of them,” Morrell was quoted by NYT as saying.
NYT said the overtures to Lithuania reflected exasperation in Poland and the United States over negotiations to deploy the shield in Poland.
In March, Poland’s center-right government presented the United States with a short but costly list of conditions for placing up to 10 inceptors on its territory. It demanded that the United States provide a mobile air defense system that NATO diplomats have said could cost billions of dollars.
The United States has rejected the Polish requests, apparently leaving the government in Warsaw with the impression that no deal can be struck before the Bush administration leaves office in January, NYT said.