WARSAW, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said on Monday that Poland waits patiently for the confirmation of the U.S. decision on the anti-missile shield to be stationed in the country.

    The minister stressed that the agreement on the anti-missile shield signed by Poland and the United States last August was accompanied by a declaration providing for the deployment in Poland of a Patriot missile battery.

    "The declaration specifies that a garrison will be set up in a location selected by the Polish side in accordance with its defense needs by the end of the year 2012. Rotational stationing of the Patriot missiles is possible also before that date," Sikorski was quoted as saying by the Polish news agency PAP.

    There are no legal problems preventing such rotational deployment to begin still this year. "We would be pleased if this is indeed the case, but we will not enter into a dispute over a few months this way or another," Sikorski noted.

    Poland wants the missiles "not only to arrive here armed, but also to be incorporated IT-wise into our air defense system," he stressed.

    The foreign minister ironized about some recent Polish press articles suggesting that the U.S. authorities, including President Barack Obama, preferred to put off detailed agreements with Poland concerning the Patriot missile base and the anti-missile shield base in Redzikowo.

    "We are waiting for the confirmation of U.S. decisions on Redzikowo, the Patriot base should be ready by 2012," the minister noted.

    Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Michael Mullen said on Monday that the installation of Patriots in Poland would be possible after the signing of a Polish-U.S. SOFA accord on the stationing of U.S. troops on Polish territory.

    Mullen, who was in Warsaw to meet with his Polish counterpart, General Franciszek Gagor, added that the Patriots could be located in Poland "within weeks or months," but noted that the missiles would be armed only for training purposes.

    Under the Polish-U.S. accord signed last year, 10 ground base interceptors are to be installed in Redzikowo, northern Poland, as part of a larger missile defense system that would include a radar system in the Czech Republic.

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

    Earlier this year, U.S. President Barack Obama launched a review of the controversial plan, saying the anti-missile system must be cost-effective and proven to work.