The Czech government decided March 28 to start talks with the United States over deploying radars on Czech territory as part of the American plans to place parts of its missile shield in Central Europe to counter possible attacks from Iran and North Korea.
The CTK agency said preparations for Bush's visit had been discussed at a meeting between Czech Foreign Minister Karl Schwarzenberg and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Washington Friday.
Rice said that apart from the Czech Republic, the U.S. was conducting bilateral talks over the missile shield with Poland, and also with NATO and Russia.
Moscow has been strongly opposed to the U.S. missile defense plans in Central Europe, saying they would threaten Russia's security and destroy the strategic balance of forces in Europe. President Vladimir Putin has said Russia would also revise its military strategy.
Following a meeting of the Russia-NATO Council in Brussels Thursday, NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer moved to allay Russia's concerns and said the placement of the U.S. missile shield would not change the strategic balance because Washington proposed to deploy only ten missile interceptors.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates will visit Moscow and Warsaw next week, and Rice will be in Russia in May. Czech President Vaclav Klaus is expected in Russia April 26-29 at the invitation of President Putin, the Kremlin press service said Friday.
