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Russia's foreign ministry has said it will be forced to react with military means if a US-Czech agreement over a missile defence shield is ratified.
The statement comes hours after the US signed an initial deal to base part of Washington's controversial missile defence system in the Czech Republic.
It said Russia would respond "not with diplomatic, but with military-technical methods" if the system was deployed.
Moscow says siting the system near its borders could weaken its own defence.
It has previously threatened to aim its own missiles at any eventual base in Poland or the Czech Republic.
Tracking system
The deal signed by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Prague on Tuesday allows a tracking radar base to be set up on Czech territory.
Speaking after signing, Ms Rice said that the US and its allies faced "a growing missile threat that is getting ever longer and ever deeper" from Iran.
The Russian news agency Interfax earlier quoted a senior Russian official as saying the deal "complicates" global security.
In talks on Monday, Mr Bush, attending his last G8 summit, and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, attending his first, made little progress on the issue of the US missile defence system.
The plans remain unpopular in the Czech Republic and the US has also failed to reach agreement with Poland on placing other parts of the system there.
The missile defence system would include the tracking radar system in the Czech Republic and 10 interceptor missiles in Poland. The US wants the sites to be in operation by about 2012.
A second deal covering the status of US soldiers at the Czech base has not been agreed.
Czech opposition parties have strongly criticised the plans and are calling for a national referendum.
The plans would have to be approved by the Czech parliament, where the government would need the votes of the opposition parties to get them through. Jan Majicek, of the No Bases Initiative, said that more than 100,000 people had signed a petition against the Czech base.

Story from BBC NEWS:
BBC NEWS | Europe | Russia warns over US-Czech shield

Published: 2008/07/08 18:37:43 GMT

© BBC MMVIII

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Norton

From the OP it appears there will only be tracking radars installed Czech Republic which will feed target data into a command and control center which in turn will guide anti missile weapons to intercept.

While the US claims it is to counter the growing missile threat from Iran, the system could obviously be used to monitor and track airborne targets in Russia. It is understandable Russian would have objections to a missile defense system on it's borders US reaction to Russia installing a similar system in Mexico, Canada or Cuba would likely be much more severe.

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