U.S. signs Poland pact as Russia renews threats

The confrontation between the West and Russia escalated Wednesday as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice signed a missile defense deal with Poland and the Kremlin suspended military cooperation with NATO’s member countries.

Russia repeated threats of military action against Warsaw for its cooperation with the U.S.

Amid the saber rattling reminiscent of the Cold War era, President Bush denounced Russia for putting the small nation of Georgia “under siege” and called on Moscow to accelerate a promised withdrawal of military forces from the Caucasus country.

The Russians, meanwhile, announced that they would cease all military cooperation with NATO, which includes the United States and most European nations.

The Norwegian Defense Ministry said Moscow had conveyed its intention to stop working with NATO, although Russia’s envoy to the organization said the “freeze” was temporary.

The Russian Defense Ministry on Wednesday renewed threats against Poland for agreeing to host 10 interceptor missile launchers from the United States.

The ministry released a statement saying the missile system would not have “any target other than Russian intercontinental ballistic missiles,” and that it would be “broadened and modernized.”

“In this case Russia will be forced to react, and not only through diplomatic” channels, the statement said.

A Russian general said last week that cooperation with the U.S. on missile defense made Poland a “target” for attack, possibly even with nuclear weapons.

The Kremlin has long been angered by NATO’s expansion into former Soviet republics and satellites.

Encouraged by the Bush administration, Georgia and Ukraine sought access to NATO’s membership process at a summit in April, but Germany and France, concerned about Russian opposition, blocked the invitation.

Miss Rice called Russia’s threats against Poland “pathetic” and said such talk “borders on the bizarre.”

“The United States would never permit an attack on the territory of an ally under Article 5,” she said, referring to the portion of the NATO treaty that guarantees mutual defense.

Ivo Daalder, a national security expert at the Brookings Institution in Washington, said the escalation was worrisome but not at a crisis point.

“Things are moving in a bad direction, but we’re not on the brink of a hot war or even a new cold war,” he said. “We live in an interconnected world in which it is very difficult for one side to completely disconnect itself from the other.”

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