FM: Poland-U.S. relations reach new level

WARSAW, March 11 (Xinhua) -- The visit of Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk to Washington marks a new level of Poland-U.S. relations, Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said on Tuesday.

Tusk proved that he was a "top league" player during his meeting with US president George W. Bush in Washington on Monday, the chief diplomat of Poland said at a press conference here Tuesday after returning from the U.S. visit with Tusk.

"Tusk obtained what could be obtained and a little extra. The talks showed that Poland reached a new level in relations with the USA and we have a new situation," Sikorski explained.

President Bush told Tusk on Monday that the United States will help Poland modernize its military as part of an agreement to deploy part of a new U.S. missile defense system in the country.

"We abandoned a model in which the U.S. acted like a protector and Poland was the protected country, a protege. Now we are allies, one bigger, the other one smaller," the foreign minister argued.

Polish news agency PAP quoted him as saying that Poland's interests were now beginning to be "reckoned with" in the U.S.

Poland wants the United States to boost significantly its military assistance in return for allowing interceptor missiles to be based on its territory. Warsaw has pushed for Patriot 3 or THAAD missiles, and has identified 17 areas of its military the U.S. could help upgrade.

The United States is planning to deploy 10 missile interceptors in Poland and a radar system in the Czech Republic as part of its European missile shield.

Russia has objected the plan, saying it will threaten Russian national security, and has warned that Moscow will target its missiles at the system if it is deployed in Poland and the Czech Republic.