US taps Lithuania as alternative to Poland for missile shield plan

0 Comments | AFP, June, 2008

WARSAW (AFP) — The United States has begun to sound out Lithuania as a possible alternative host for a controversial missile shield as talks with Poland on the project grind on.

After a Polish minister said Tuesday that talks between Washington and Vilnius were indeed underway, US officials confirmed that chief missile defence negotiator John Rood had visited Lithuania, stressing all the while there were in actual fact no negotiations with the ex-Soviet Baltic state.

Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell, however, made it clear Poland was not the only option the United States had to host the shield.

"There are several European nations that could host the (missile) interceptors and Lithuania is one of them," Morrell told reporters in Washington Tuesday.

...