High-ranking Polish and Russian diplomats on Thursday held in Warsaw their first direct talks on the contentious US plan to place a missile defence system in Europe, while Polish and Czech premiers discussed the matter in Prague, according to dpa. In Warsaw, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Kislyak sought to make his Polish counterpart Vitold Vaszczykovski "aware of the risks of the planned system", the Interfax news agency reported citing a Russian Foreign Ministry statement. Kislyak called the discussions "frank and honest," adding that Russia was eager for the "opportunity of joint work against missile technologies proliferation," Interfax said. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk echoed Kislyak's diplomatic opener Thursday, saying "It is necessary that all interested parties in the region exchange information and intentions." "We are curious about what questions and opinions all countries in the region have, Russia too," he said during a visit to Prague where he also discussed US missile-shield plans with Topolanek. Moscow opposes the planned US defence system on the basis that it endangers Russian security and has threatened to counter it by military means. According to a Russian Foreign Ministry statement, Kislyak had sought to make the Polish side "aware of the risks of the planned system." Russia wanted to help Poland "recognize (the system's) problems for its own strategic security," the ministry said. Washington has asked Warsaw and Prague to host 10 interceptor missiles and a tracking radar respectively in early 2007. Despite adverse public opinion, the two countries entered into separate bilateral talks on the matter with the United States. The previous Polish administration of premier Jaroslaw Kaczynski had pressed for the speedy implementation of the plan. The new government under Tusk has expressed disappointment with Washington's failure to allay Russian concerns, and has opted to open direct dialogue with Moscow. The Polish premier is scheduled to visit Moscow on February 8. "Of course not," the Czech premier said when asked whether the leaders have coordinated their message ahead of the visit. Tusk and Topolanek have however agreed to coordinate the pace of their separate bilateral talks with the United States on hosting of the bases, the leaders told reporters after their meeting. "We are convinced that the pace and the cycle of talks should be also united," Tusk said. According to the Polish premier, they feel that the conclusion of the talks must be joint as well. They agreed on the coordination of their steps before an upcoming visit to Washington by Polish Defence Minister Bogdan Klich and the Czech premier's February 27 White House visit. The two leaders, who boasted of their friendly relations, however said that it remains open when the two countries would end talks with Washington and ratify resulting agreements. Topolanek said that the Czech government would "ideally" prefer to ratify the agreements in April after the NATO summit in Bucharest. But he has also repeated the mantra of Czech negotiators. "We prefer quality over speed," he said, adding later, "We are not giving ourselves any deadlines." Tusk - whose Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski has recently warned that Poland would not want to approve the project and see it later scrapped by a new US administration - said that it is not important whether the talks will be wrapped up "in a month, in a half year or in a year." "It is not a race with time. Decisive is a satisfactory result," the Polish premier said, pointing out that neither Poles nor Czechs wish to "speed up or delay" the negotiations. He suggested that the speed with which the talks would be concluded also depends on Washington's will to accommodate hosts' demands. "We don't want to wait for the change of American administration," Tusk said, adding, "But if the talks will not be effective, they can protract." The new Polish government wants the installation of a US defence system, such as the Patriot missiles, in exchange for hosting the US missile-shield base, said Polish Defence Minister Bogdan Klich Wednesday. According to Tusk, the Czechs "accepted the conditions of Poland with understanding." Washington would prefer the host countries to rapidly conclude the talks and ratify agreed treaties. The US Congress has promised to restore 2008-fiscal-year funding for the Polish base once the George W Bush administration gets the Polish and Czech final nod for the project. The US had initially hoped to get the final approval of the two Central European, formerly-communist members of NATO and the European Union by the end of 2007, which has proved unrealistic. Tusk's government has initially taken time off from the negotiations. Prague has not slowed down its talks, whose next round is planned for late January, but has repeated that more time is needed.
