Prague  -  US plans to base a missile defence radar in the Czech Republic are critical to showing that eastern Europe can stand up to Russia, Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek said Monday.

Topolanek, whose government faces a struggle to win parliamentary approval for the US base, also accused Czech opponents of the project of underestimating the threat of the spread of missile technology to nations such as Iran and North Korea.

He portrayed missile defence as a new glue for the NATO alliance and a political message to Russia that the United States is committed to allies in Central Europe.

Giving up on the plans - which also include interceptor missiles in Poland, another former Soviet satellite - would show that Russia can drive a wedge between NATO members, he said.

At that point, "some nations would remain within NATO, but they would be afraid of the grumbling of the Russian bear," Topolanek told an international conference on missile defence, organized by his government to help bolster its case.

He evoked the risk of a new Yalta, a reference to the Allied deal near the end of World War II that split Europe into Western and Soviet spheres of influence.

But while recalling the region's history of Soviet domination, he urged Moscow to join the West as a security partner and echoed US statements that the proposed missile shield posed no military threat to Russia.

US and Czech leaders at a NATO summit last month announced a deal on basing the radar in the Czech Republic. Meanwhile, NATO leaders agreed that the planned US sites in eastern Europe should eventually become part of a NATO anti-missile system.

Topolanek has staunchly backed the US plan, but his government has a thin majority in the Czech parliament that could put approval of the radar in jeopardy.

On Monday, in a message aimed at the base's opponents, he said the stakes were bigger than just a missile-tracking radar.

"We need to have this system anchored on both sides of the Atlantic," he said. "The trans-Atlantic link needed to be reinforced. This is an argument against those who oppose construction of the radar."

US and Czech negotiators are still working on a separate treaty governing the status of US forces to be based in the Czech Republic to operate the radar.

US talks with Poland have bogged down over Polish efforts to win US military aid in return for hosting the interceptors. That has prompted speculation that the Czech radar project may go ahead even without waiting for Poland.

"I do hope that we will finally meet in the same place," Topolanek said. "I do hope that the Polish government will have all the courage to make the decision it needs."

US President George W Bush's administration says the missile shield is aimed against "rogue nations" such as Iran and North Korea as well as the risk of terrorists getting their hands on ballistic missiles. Russia has vehemently opposed basing the system in its former sphere of control. (dpa)