PRAGUE, June 14 (Xinhua) -- The Czech Republic will present a counter-proposal to the U.S. radar treaty in July, Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek said on Thursday.

    Topolanek said there was no difference in principle between his country and the United States on deploying a radar system, but both sides should seek compromise regarding some issues, the CTK news agency reported.

    He added that a new round of talks on a proposed missile defense system would start in August.

    Topolanek also mentioned the Russian proposal that the defense base be placed in Azerbaijan instead of Central Europe.

    He said the radar in Azerbaijan cannot replace the system in Central Europe, it can only complement and strengthen it.

    The prime minister said his country is consulting with neighboring Poland where Washington plans to station the missile part of its defense shield. German opinions on the plan are also important for the Czech Republic, he added.

    The Czech Republic and the United States have held two rounds of negotiations on the radar base. Negotiators from the two sides are discussing a treaty that would define the conditions of the functioning and operation of a possible radar base, its location, access to the base, possibilities of visits to it and logistics.

    Czech First Deputy Foreign Minister Tomas Pojar, who took part in the negotiations, said Prague has outlined its idea of what "counter-services" the United States should provide in exchange for the radar system on Czech territory.

    Pojar said the treaty should be more specific and better explain the functioning of the whole system.

    The United States unveiled its plan in January to place a radar system in the Czech Republic and 10 interceptor missiles in Poland, as components of the missile defense shield. Russia has voiced strong opposition to the deployment.

     NATO: Putin's offer not alternative to U.S. missile defense plan in Europe

U.S. Defense Secretary Bill Gates speaks after the meeting of the Nato-Russia Counsil in Brussels Thursday June 14, 2007. He said that Putin's proposal should be discussed first by American and Russian technical experts.  (Xinhua Photo)

    BRUSSELS, June 14 (Xinhua) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin's proposal for a joint Russia-U.S. anti-missile radar site in Azerbaijan is not an alternative to the U.S. plan to deploy missile defense facilities in Eastern Europe, said NATO chief Jaapde Hoop Scheffer on Thursday.

    "I don't think that the offer by President Putin -- the proposal he made in Heiligendamm on the Azeri radar site -- is going to replace, or be an alternative to the bilateral negotiations going on between the U.S. and Poland, and the U.S. and the Czech Republic," de Hoop Scheffer told reporters after a meeting of the NATO-Russia Council. Full story

Russia urges U.S. to freeze missile shield plan

    WASHINGTON, June 14 (Xinhua)-- A senior Russian official on Thursday reiterated Moscow's call for United States to freeze development of its planned missile shield in eastern Europe.

    Visiting Dmitry Peskov, deputy spokesman for the Russian government, said the proposal by Russian President Vladimir Putin to use jointly a radar station that Russia controls in Azerbaijan was a substitute for rather than an addition to the U.S plan of missile shield in east Europe. Full story