The United States and the Czech Republic said they reached agreement Thursday on the stationing in the Czech Republic of a U.S. missile-defense radar strongly opposed by Russia. “The United States and the Czech Republic are pleased to announce the completion of negotiations on a missile-defense agreement. We plan to sign the agreement in the near future,” according to a joint statement by Washington and Prague released by the State Department. “This agreement is an important step in our efforts to protect our nations and our NATO allies from the growing threat posed by the proliferation of ballistic missiles and weapons of mass destruction,” the joint statement said. “This agreement calls for the stationing of a U.S. radar in the Czech Republic to track ballistic missiles. The radar will be linked to other U.S. missile-defense facilities in Europe and the United States,” the two governments wrote. “In addition to deepening our bilateral strategic relationship, we strongly believe that our cooperation in this area will make a substantial contribution to NATO's collective capability to counter existing and future threats in the 21st century, and will be an integral part of any future NATO-wide missile-defense architecture,” the statement said. The U.S. plan calls for deploying 10 interceptor missiles in Poland and a targeting radar in the Czech Republic by 2012 in response to what Washington says is a growing ballistic missile threat from Iran. Russia has strongly opposed deployment of the U.S. missile-defense system in the two former Soviet bloc states, arguing that the system is a threat to its security.
