Polish Premier, President spar over US missile deal

WARSAW (AFP) - The looming signing of a deal on basing a US missile shield in Poland has sparked a new round in a long-running spat between Polish President Lech Kaczynski and arch-rival Prime Minister Donald Tusk.

On the eve of Wednesday's (today) signing ceremony in Warsaw with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Kaczynski and Tusk, who both backed the deal, were in disagreement over who should give a prime-time television speech about it.

Tusk had been set to address the nation Tuesday evening, but changed his mind after learning Kaczynski was planning to do the same.

"I considered it would be ridiculous to have two speeches on the same evening on the same subject. So obviously, I cancelled," Tusk told reporters.

The conservative Kaczynski had criticised his liberal prime minister for purportedly upping the ante in talks with the United States, which ended last week after 15 months.

Tusk pushed for - and won - additional security guarantees to offset the potential risks of hosting a US missile base, notably the provision of a Patriot air-defence system.

He had taken a harder line than his conservative predecessor, Kaczynski's identical twin Jaroslaw Kaczysnski.

"The results we got are better than those at the beginning of the talks," Tusk said.

Tusk and Kaczynski's bad blood dates back to the 2005 presidential elections, which Tusk lost narrowly after a campaign marked by mudslinging.

The two men were thrust into a difficult working relationship after Tusk won a snap election last October, and have battled incessantly over who should steer foreign policy.

Poland has agreed to Washington's plan to base 10 interceptor missiles on Polish soil by 2011-2013. Along with a radar facility in the neighbouring Czech Republic, the missiles would complete a system already in place in the United States, Greenland and Britain.

Moscow, however, considers it a security threat designed to undermine Russia's nuclear deterrent.

It has threatened retaliation against the Poles and Czechs, warning they could even become a target for attack.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in Warsaw Tuesday, ahead of the formal signing of a deal on basing an American missile shield in Poland on Wednesday (today).

A plane carrying Rice and other US officials landed in Warsaw shortly before 8:00 pm (1800 GMT), for a ceremony which comes after months of negotiations coloured by strident opposition from Russia.