Warsaw  - Prime Minister Donald Tusk on Monday removed Poland's top negotiator in missile-shield talks with the United States, highlighting political infighting over the stalled project.

Hours before Tusk signed Witold Waszczykowski's dimissal note, a magazine quoted the negotiator as saying Tusk was driven by domestic politics when he rejected the latest US offer last month.

Tusk said Monday he was "unsatisfied" with how Waszczykowski led negotiations on the US proposal to station 10 interceptor missiles on Polish soil as part of the missile defence system.

In the interview with Newsweek's Polish edition, Waszczykowski accused Tusk and Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski of balking at US plans because they wanted to keep Polish President Lech Kaczynski from getting credit for any agreement on a missile shield.

Waszczykowski also charged that Tusk was giving in to public opinion in Poland, where a majority opposes the US plans.

Tusk's government has sought military aid as part of the bargain for basing the interceptors in Poland.

The Bush administration has already signed a deal with the Czech government on hosting a radar base, the other part of a missile defence system to be based in the two ex-communist countries.

Russia has strongly opposed the US project, which Washington says would be targeted against ballistic missile threats from nations like Iran - not Russia. (dpa)