Warsaw  - US president-elect Barack Obama's victory means "a new image for America across the world," and seems "like a fairy tale," Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski said Wednesday.

But an opposition leader had doubts Obama could be tough enough with Russia.

"It's a joyful moment, because Americans feel that something very important has taken place," Sikorski told a radio station, calling Obama "charismatic" and "unbelievably intelligent."

"I think this is good news for Poland," said Slawomir Nowak, a top aide to Prime Minister Donald Tusk. "Let's count on how this will be a new impulse, and a new dynamic in Polish-American relations."

While most Polish politicians praised Obama's victory, saying it would boost relations and how Europeans view the US, a hesitant voice came from the euro-skeptic Law and Justice opposition party.

Republican candidate John McCain is "exceptionally hard" in relations with Moscow, but nobody says that about Obama, party head Jaroslaw Kaczynski told the PAP news agency.

Former Solidarity leader Lech Walesa said Obama's victory means "that even America looks at the world and notices that there must be changes."

But Walesa said that while Obama preaches change, he's not sure what he wants to change.

"He talks about preserving capitalism, and at the same time he hands out welfare," Walesa told PAP.

Sikorski, a British-educated, centre-right politician who backs US plans for a missile defence system in eastern Europe, said he expects "great" relations with Washington to continue.

Sikorski said Obama had previously told him he would build the US missile defence base in Poland as long as the system works and wasn't aimed against Russia.

Nowak said he doesn't expect an Obama administration to make "fundamental changes" in the agreement.

"The agreements have been signed, so it only remains to realize those agreements," Nowak told PAP. "But of course president Obama will have the deciding voice."

Pentagon plans to base missile interceptors in Poland and a tracking radar in the Czech Republic has angered Moscow, which says it's aimed at countering Russia's nuclear arsenal.

The Bush administration said the system is meant to protect against growing ballistic missile threats from "roque states" like Iran.

Poles largely supported Obama, a Democrat, in the US presidential race against McCain. This year, Poles took an added interest in the elections because of the agreement Poland signed with the US to host the US missile defence shield in exchange for military support.

Obama's victory was "a renewal of faith of Americans in their national mythology, or ideology," Sikorski said.

"You can be an immigrant, you can be a different color and become president. It's like a fairy tale," he said. "That opens a new chapter in their history, and something that makes them feel they can again feel proud as Americans." (dpa)