Brussels- The Polish government must sell off two shipyards which were the cradle of the anti-Communist Solidarity movement in order to claim back hundreds of millions of euros in illegal state aid, the European Union's executive ruled Thursday.

"State aid granted to the shipyards in Gdynia and Szczecin gives rise to disproportionate distortions of competition ... in breach of EC Treaty state aid rules, and must be repaid ," EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes told journalists in Brussels.

Warsaw - Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk on Wednesday dismissed a Russian threat to deploy missiles near the Polish border to counter a planned US missile defence system.

"I wouldn't attach too much weight to these types of declarations," the Polish Press Agency quotes Tusk as saying.

Hours earlier, Russian President Dmitri Medvedev said Moscow would deploy short-range missiles in its Baltic Sea enclave of Kaliningrad.

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."

Warsaw - US president-elect Barack Obama will create "a new image for America across the world," building on an election victory that seems "like a fairy tale," Poland's foreign minister said Wednesday.

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

"That opens a new chapter in their history, and something that makes them feel they can again feel proud as Americans."

Warsaw - Americans, Europeans and Poles alike stayed out late Tuesday during an "Election Night Warsaw" event to cheer on the US presidential candidates and watch the results come in on big-screen CNN monitors.

The crowd - mostly supporting Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama - mingled and cast their votes in mock booths, arguing politics and the importance of this year's American elections across the world.

Warsaw- Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski on Tuesday criticised President Lech Kaczysnki over a joint statement with Lithuania opposing a resumption of EU negotiations with Russia.

Sikorski said Kaczynski's joint statement issued late Monday with Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus had not been cleared with the Polish government beforehand. Sikorski said he had only learned about the document from his Lithuanian colleague at the current EU foreign ministers' meeting in Marseille.