Russia demands permanent access to shield sites

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia is demanding that the United States give the Russian military permanent access to its planned missile shield sites in eastern Europe, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was quoted as saying on Tuesday.

"For us it is important that we should see second-by-second where that radar is looking, and what is happening at the interceptor (missile) base in the Czech Republic," Ekho Moskvy radio station quoted Lavrov as saying in an interview.

He said this demand was a sticking point in negotiations with Washington over the shield.

"In the proposals which we have received (from U.S. negotiators) ... there is no mention of a permanent presence, it says that officers can be posted to the Russian embassies in Poland and the Czech Republic and work at these sites on the basis of reciprocity," the radio station quoted him as saying.

The United States wants to station a radar in the Czech Republic and 10 interceptor missiles in Poland as part of a missile defence system it says it needs to protect from what it calls "rogue states", specifically Iran.

Russia has opposed the shield plan, saying it is a threat to its national security. U.S. President George W. Bush and Russian leader Vladimir Putin failed to resolve their row over the shield at a summit at the weekend.