Riki Ellison, chairman of the 10,000-member Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance (MDAA), told Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza on Thursday that the US has changed its mind to avoid a rift with Russia and is now looking at Israel, Turkey, the Balkans or ship-borne facilities instead.

“The signals given by generals from the Pentagon are clear: The current US government is looking for different solutions on the question of missile defense than Poland and the Czech Republic. The new [US] team is paying more attention to Russian arguments,” Wyborcza was quoted as saying.

In March 2008, a US general said the US hoped to put a third major anti-missile component in Europe along with those under negotiation with Poland and the Czech Republic to counter Iran.

 The powerful, “forward based” radar system would be placed in southeastern Europe, possibly in Turkey, the Caucasus or the Caspian Sea region, Henry Obering, then-head of the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency, had said.

At that time, the US Embassy in Ankara said the US had been holding negotiations only with Poland and the Czech Republic in order to put a third anti-missile component in Europe, stressing that no negotiation with Turkey on this issue was under way.