BRUSSELS, Dec. 3 (Xinhua) -- NATO foreign ministers on Wednesday expressed their support for the U.S. missile defense projects in the Czech Republic and Poland, recognizing their "substantial contribution" to the protection of NATO allies from long-range ballistic missiles.

    Concluding their two-day meeting at the NATO headquarters, the ministers also discussed the progress on the development of options for a comprehensive missile defense architecture to extend coverage to all European Allied territory and populations not otherwise covered by the U.S. projects, which will be reviewed at the military bloc's summit next April.

    The issue will also be discussed at the NATO defense ministers' meeting next February in Krakow, Poland.

    Meanwhile, the NATO foreign ministers expressed their support to the ongoing efforts to strengthen missile defense cooperation between Russia and NATO, saying NATO is committed to maximum transparency and reciprocal confidence-building measures to allay any concerns.

    They also said that NATO remains ready to explore the potential for linking U.S., NATO and Russian missile defense systems at an appropriate time.

    To Russia's strong opposition, the United States signed a bilateral treaty with the Czech Republic in July, allowing a U.S. radar base to be stationed on Czech soil. In August, it reached another agreement with Poland on deploying parts of its global missile shield in that country.

    To counter the U.S. moves, Russian has announced it would deploy a short-range missile system in its Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad bordering Poland and Lithuania.

    Russia will also deploy equipment in the western region to electronically jam the U.S. missile defense system, with resources of the Russian Navy to be used to counter the missile shield.