Romania 'to host US missile shield'

The US has reconfigured its plans to protect against "rogue" states

Romania has agreed to host missile interceptors as part of a new US defence shield, its president says.

President Traian Basescu said the plan was approved by the supreme defence council. It still needs parliamentary approval.

US President Barack Obama last year scrapped a previous version of the shield, based in Poland and the Czech Republic, which had infuriated Russia.

He said the US would now concentrate on a smaller-scale version.

Mr Basescu said the system would "protect the whole of Romania's territory", but stressed that it "is not directed against Russia".

Smaller system

The US has insisted that its defence shield was designed to protect its allies against attack from "rogue states" like Iran, and was not aimed at Russia.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, however, said the system would upset the strategic balance. They threatened to train nuclear warheads on Poland and the Czech Republic in response.

Mr Obama's decision to abandon the original plan in September was greeted with enthusiasm in Russia, and came amid attempts to "reset" the relationship between Washington and Moscow.

The anti-ballistic missile shield favoured by former President George W Bush would be replaced by a reconfigured system designed to shoot down short- and medium-range missiles, Mr Obama announced.

He said intelligence suggested Iran was concentrating on shorter-range, not intercontinental, missiles.

The new system is built around ship-based SM-3 anti-missile missiles and on similar missiles to be stationed on land.

In October, US Vice-President Joseph Biden visited Poland, Romania and the Czech Republic seeking support for the new system.

Poland has already signed up.