US Vice President Biden reassures Poles on security

WARSAW, Oct 21 (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Joe Biden tried to reassure Poles and other central Europeans on Wednesday that the Obama administration would not strike any deals with Russia affecting their security over their heads.

Poland and the Czech Republic are still smarting from Obama's decision to scrap Bush-era plans for an ambitious missile shield to protect against possible long-range missile attacks from Iran. Russia strongly opposed the plans.

Biden, visiting Warsaw on Wednesday, is expected to propose that Poland could host SM-3 interceptors targeting short and medium-range missiles, under an alternative missile defence plan unveiled by Obama last month.

"We have no agreements with Russia at central Europe's expense and we will not sign any such agreements," Biden told the Polish daily Rzeczpospolita in an interview before his trip, which will also include Romania and the Czech Republic.

"Nothing about you without you," Biden added, using a phrase dating back to the 1990s after the fall of communism that underlines Washington's commitment to take no decisions affecting the region's security without full consultations.

"We honestly believe that improving the mood between the United States and Russia will contribute to improving security in Europe and will bring benefits to our allies," he added.

Obama has made "resetting" relations with Russia a major foreign policy objective as he needs Moscow's cooperation on Iran, Afghanistan and other strategic issues.

Russia has warmly welcomed his decision to shelve the Bush missile shield plan, which Moscow had regarded as a direct threat to its own security. It is awaiting more details on the new missile defence plans but says they are less worrisome.

Obama's plans envisage the deployment first of sea-based interceptors and then of land-based systems involving the SM-3s.



EQUALITY

For NATO ally Poland, perturbed by Russia's more assertive foreign and security policy, the type of system is less important than a clear U.S. commitment to its security.

Poland, which joined NATO a decade ago, has long complained that it hosts no U.S. troops or major military installations despite a strong track record of sending troops to help in U.S.-led missions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"We do not care so much about the hardware, but about the perception that the security status of this region is equal to that of western Europe," Witold Waszczykowski, deputy head of Poland's National Security Bureau, told Reuters on Wednesday.

Polish and U.S. negotiators are also hoping to conclude talks on Wednesday on a "status of forces" agreement (SOFA) that would permit the temporary deployment in Poland of a Patriot missile battery.

The SOFA governs the legal aspects of U.S. forces in a host country.

Under a deal negotiated with the Bush administration in parallel with the missile shield plan, Poland secured a commitment that the United States would send an armed Patriot battery to Poland from Germany several times each year until 2012 to help upgrade Polish air defences.

"I understand they will continue the (SOFA) negotiations this morning," said Waszczykowski, adding that taxation of visiting U.S. forces was the main remaining stumbling block. (Editing by Tim Pearce)