KEY POINTS:
GDANSK, Poland - President George W. Bush today thanked Poland for being ready to host the US missile shield and sent a clear signal he would not scrap the plan in the face of an alternative offer from Russia.
Bush, making a whistle stop in Poland after attending
the Group of Eight meeting in Germany, met Polish President Lech Kaczynski to discuss missile defence and Russia's vehement opposition to its positioning in Moscow's former backyard in central Europe.
"First let me say I appreciate the support for the deployment of the missile defence interceptors here in Poland," Bush told a joint briefing with Kaczynski.
"We will negotiate a fair agreement that enhances the security of Poland and the security of the entire continent against rogue regimes who might be willing to try to blackmail free nations."
Washington has been negotiating to place 10 interceptors in Poland and a radar in another ex-Soviet satellite, the Czech Republic, as the European part of a global system to counter the threat of a nuclear attack from "rogue" states such as Iran.
A sceptical Russia sees the project as undermining its own security and President Vladimir Putin has threatened to revert to the Cold War practice of targeting Russian missiles on Europe if the plan goes ahead.
Upping the ante, Putin made a surprise offer on Thursday to let the United States use a Russian-controlled radar in Azerbaijan to detect any threats from the Middle East.
On Friday, he said the interceptors could be placed in southern Europe or Turkey and that Russia was happy to share intelligence picked up by the Azeri radar.
"Qabala completely covers the whole region that worries the Americans," Putin told a news conference at the end of the G8 summit, referring to the radar station. "We are ready on-line and in real-time to hand over all information."
He appeared to suggest he expected talks between Washington, Warsaw and Prague to be suspended until his offer is studied.
"We hope there will be no unilateral actions until completion of negotiations," Putin said. "We will not be late because Iran does not have these rockets."
Neither Bush nor Kaczynski commented directly on the Russian offer, but both reiterated that Russia had nothing to fear from the central European deployment of the shield.
"Neither the US or Polish plans are aimed against Russia. It (Russia) can feel safe from our side," Kaczynski said.
Following their briefing, Bush took off on board Air Force One for Italy.
Earlier in the day, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said the United States would talk to all parties -- Nato, Czech Republic, Poland and Russia.
"Everything is on the table," she said. "We are going to continue talking to Russia. President Putin put forward a very substantive proposal."
A senior US diplomat said Bush faced a delicate task of continuing negotiations with Poland and the Czech republic without appearing to reject the Russian offer.
"The US does not see the (Russian) proposal as a substitute (for the central European anti-missile project), it can only be complementary," he said.
"No one wants to give the impression that we are not interested in the Russian proposal."
In Brussels, Nato Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer reacted cautiously to the idea of using the Qabala radar in Azerbaijan.
"I think it is a bit close to the rogue states we are discussing," he said of the proposed Russian alternative.
- REUTERS