Star Wars in Eastern Europe

last updated 8 January 2015

Warsaw

The U.S. told Poland and the Czech Republic this week it wanted to start formal talks on basing missile defense sites on their territories. Andrew Schilling of the U.S. Embassy in Warsaw said the missile defense system was not intended to counter Russia. Instead, he said, it was aimed at protecting Europe from “the evolving Middle Eastern ballistic missile threat”—a term widely perceived as meaning Iran. Russia, though, was not pleased. A U.S. missile defense system in Eastern Europe “would create a clear threat for Russia,” said Col. Gen. Vladimir Popovkin, chief of Russia’s Space Forces.