diagram depicting projected flight paths of interceptors compared to Russian ICBMs Since 2002, the U.S. had been in talks with Poland and other European countries over the possibility of setting up a European base to intercept long-range missiles. According to U.S. officials, a site similar to the American base in Alaska would help protect the US and Europe from missiles fired from the Middle East or North Africa. The
Ustka-
Wicko base of the Polish Army (at ) was initially mentioned as a possible site of US missile interceptors. Poland's prime minister
Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz said in November 2005 he wanted to open up the public debate on whether Poland should host such a base. In February 2007, the United States started formal negotiations with Poland and the Czech Republic concerning construction of missile shield installations in those countries for a Ground-Based Midcourse Defense System. In April 2007 the
Washington Post reported that 57% of
Poles opposed the plan. Russia threatened to place short-range
nuclear missiles on its borders with
NATO, if the United States went ahead with plans to deploy 10 interceptor missiles in Poland and a radar in the Czech Republic. In April 2007, then-President Putin warned of a
new Cold War if the Americans deployed the shield in Central Europe. Putin said that Russia was prepared to abandon its obligations under the
Nuclear Forces Treaty of 1987 with the United States. In July 2008, Poland did not agree on the conditions set forth by the United States regarding the installation of anti-ballistic missiles on its territory. In July 2008, the Russian Foreign Ministry stated that if the missile defense system was approved, "we will be forced to react not with diplomatic, but with military-technical methods." On August 14, 2008, shortly after the
2008 South Ossetia war, the United States and Poland announced a deal to implement the missile defense system on Polish territory, with a tracking system placed in the Czech Republic. The Russians responded by saying such action "cannot go unpunished." Dmitry Rogozin, Russia's
NATO envoy, said, "The fact that this was signed in a period of a very difficult crisis in the relations between Russia and the United States over the
situation in
Georgia shows that, of course, the missile defense system will be deployed not against
Iran but against the strategic potential of Russia." A high-ranking Russian military officer warned Poland that it was exposing itself to attack by accepting a U.S. missile interceptor base on its soil. The deputy chief of staff of Russia's armed forces Gen.
Anatoly Nogovitsyn warned that, "by deploying (the system), it is exposing itself to a strike—100 percent". On August 20, 2008, the "Agreement Between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the Republic of Poland Concerning the Deployment of Ground-Based Ballistic Missile Defense Interceptors in the Territory of the Republic of Poland" was signed in Warsaw by US Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice and Poland’s foreign minister
Radoslaw Sikorski. On November 5, 2008, in his first
State of the Nation speech,
Russian president Dmitry Medvedev stated, "From what we have seen in recent years—the creation of a missile defense system, the encirclement of Russia with military bases, the relentless expansion of NATO—we have gotten the clear impression that they are testing our strength." Russia would deploy short-range
Iskander missiles to Russia's western enclave of
Kaliningrad, sandwiched between Poland and
Lithuania "to neutralize, if necessary, a missile defense system." On November 8, an aide to U.S.
president-elect Barack Obama denied a claim made by
Polish president Lech Kaczyński's office, that a pledge had been made to go ahead with the EIS missile defense system during a phone conversation between the two men. "His [Obama's] position is as it was throughout the campaign, that he supports deploying a missile defence system when the technology is proved to be workable," the aide said, but "no commitment" has been made. On November 14,
French president Nicolas Sarkozy stated that plans for a U.S. missile shield in Central Europe were misguided, and wouldn't make the continent a safer place. "Deployment of a missile defense system would bring nothing to security ... it would complicate things, and would make them move backward," he said at a summit. He also warned Russian president Medvedev against upping tensions by deploying missiles in Kaliningrad in response to the planned U.S. missile defense system. On April 5, 2009, President Obama, during a speech in Prague, declared: "As long as the threat from Iran persists, we will go forward with a missile defense system that is cost-effective and proven." President Obama continued to express conditional support for the program and sought to isolate it from U.S.-Russian nuclear arms control talks. On September 17, 2009, The
White House issued a statement saying that the US "no longer planned to move forward" with the EIS project. According to President Obama, new intelligence had shown Iran was pursuing short-range and medium-range missile development, rather than long-range, necessitating a shift in strategy. The outlines of a reformulated, scaled-down project began to emerge in October, 2009. In 2010
leaked diplomatic cables showed that Polish diplomats felt more threatened by Russia than by Iran. The (leaked) responses from the Pentagon show that
Alexander Vershbow sought to assure that the missile shield, including the SM-3 alternative, was adaptable to "hypothetical" threats. On March 26, 2012, there occurred a
microphone gaffe between President Obama and
President Medvedev. Obama said that he would have "more flexibility" to deal with controversial issues such as missile defense. He was heard telling Medvedev, "On all these issues, but particularly missile defense, this, this can be solved but it's important for him to give me space." Medvedev told the president in English, "Yeah, I understand. I understand your message about space. Space for you…" and President Obama continued his statement, "This is my last election. After my election I have more flexibility." Medvedev responded saying, again in English, "I understand. I will transmit this information to
Vladimir." In March 2013, Polish Deputy Minister of Defense
Robert Kupiecki announced that Poland intended to build its own
missile defense within NATO, complementing the US deployment. Poland's tentative budget for the next decade is "$10 billion for the modernization of air defense, where half of this sum is dedicated to lower-tier missile defense." ==International reactions to discontinuation of the project==