The future of the missile shield in Poland is being bartered? WBJ

According to press reports, US President Barack Obama has sent a secret letter to his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev, offering to abandon former President Bush's plan to build a missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic. In return, Russia would have to assist in preventing Iran's development of long-range weapons.

The letter, which was supposedly sent last month and whose existence was reported by Russia's Kommersant and the The New York Times, explained that the US would not move forward with the deployment of interceptor missiles in Central Europe as long as Iran halted its development of nuclear warheads and missiles, a process which Russia has reportedly had a hand.

“We are not going to speculate on the existence of this letter,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Piotr Paszkowski told WBJ.pl. “This is just another article in a newspaper,” he said, but added that The New York Times article made more sense than other accounts.

“As far as the ministry is concerned, plans are on track, as was discussed between [Polish Foreign Minister] Radosław Sikorski and US Secretary of State [Hillary Clinton],” Paszkowski concluded.

A letter of intent was signed between Poland and former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice last year. Polish Foreign Minister Sikorski met US Secretary of State Clinton in late February and both parties confirmed that plans were on track to place 20 long-range Patriot missiles on Polish soil. At that time, however, mentions of the missile shield itself were guarded.