BRUSSELS, Dec 3: Nato foreign ministers on Wednesday affirmed their support for US plans to install anti-missile defences in Europe despite Russia’s strong opposition.

The ministers said the planned US defences in Poland and the Czech Republic will make a “substantial contribution” to protecting allies from the threat of long-range ballistic missiles.

Russia has vehemently opposed the deployment, threatening to respond by placing short-range missiles in its westernmost region, Kaliningrad, which borders Poland. The US insists the defences are aimed at potential attack from Iran and pose no threat to Russia’s ballistic arsenal.

All 26 Nato allies signed the statement backing the deployment of interceptor missiles in Poland and an advanced radar station in the Czech Republic.

Doubts about allied support for the plan were raised last month when French President Nicolas Sarkozy said the missile defences would “bring nothing to security ... it would complicate things, and would make them move backward.”

Sarkozy’s statement at a meeting in France with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev appeared to contradict his early support for the missile plans at a Nato summit in April. But in Washington a few days later, the French leader changed tack again, saying that the anti-missile shield could “complement” Western defences against a threat from Iran.

The Nato ministers agreed on Tuesday to gradually resume contacts with Moscow, which were frozen after Russian troops poured into Georgia in August.

However, they were critical of Moscow’s actions and insisted the resumption of low-level talks would not mean a return to business as usual for the Nato-Russia Council.

Faced with opposition from Russia, the Nato ministers backed away from establishing a plan for Ukraine and George to move toward entry into the Western military alliance for the former-Soviet nations.

However, the ministers offered to step up military and political cooperation to help them achieve their goal of eventual membership.—AP