WARSAW, Aug 19: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in Warsaw on Tuesday, ahead of the formal signing of a deal on basing an American missile shield in Poland.A plane carrying Rice and other US officials landed in Warsaw shortly before 8:00 pm (1800 GMT), for a ceremony which comes after months of negotiations coloured by strident opposition from Russia.

On Wednesday, Rice is due to meet Polish President Lech Kaczynski and other officials, before inking the deal with Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski at 11:30 am (0930 GMT).

Washington plans by 2011-2013 to base 10 interceptor missiles in Poland plus a radar facility in the neighbouring Czech Republic — both of them Nato members — to complete a system already in place in the United States, Greenland and Britain.

Moscow is deeply opposed to the missile plan, and the deal signing comes amid a spike in tensions between Washington and its allies over Russia’s conflict with pro-Western Georgia, a country staunchly supported by fellow ex-communist Poland.

Washington insists the shield — endorsed by all 26 Nato member states earlier this year — is to fend off potential missile attacks by what it calls “rogue states,” a phrase regarded as including Iran.—AFP