WARSAW, Dec. 23 (Xinhua) -- Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Tuesday that he hopes for "progressive improvement" in Polish-Russian relations in 2009.

    "It seems that we are on a difficult but good road to achieve a notable improvement in Polish-Russian relations," the prime minister told a news conference here after a cabinet meeting.

    "We agreed that 'partnership' required both openness and toughness. We want to preserve the two values in proper proportions," Tusk was quoted by Polish news agency PAP as saying.

    The U.S. and Poland formally signed in August an agreement to deploy parts of the U.S. global missile shield in the East European country.

    Russia objects to the anti-missile shield plan, warning it will deploy a short-range missile system in its Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad bordering Poland, in response to U.S. plans to set up a missile shield in Poland.