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The United States and the Czech Republic have reached an agreement on the stationing in the Czech Republic of a U.S. missile defense radar. This plan is strongly opposed by Russia.

This legally binding agreement calls for the stationing of a U.S. radar in the Czech Republic to track ballistic missiles, the two countries said in a joint communiqué. The radar will be linked to other U.S. missile defense facilities in Europe and the United States.

The U.S. plan calls for deploying ten interceptor missiles in Poland and a targeting radar in the Czech Republic by 2012 is in response to what Washington says is a growing ballistic missile threat from Iran. Russia has vehemently opposed deployment of the U.S. missile defense systems in the two former Soviet bloc states.

However, Czech officials said any arrangements for inspections of the Czech site by Russian military personnel would have to be agreed to separately between Prague and Moscow.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg concluded their negotiations on the radar on the sidelines of a NATO summit dealing with a range of issues.

NATO leaders put off Ukraine and Georgia's inclusion in a formal process that paves the way for membership in the alliance. Moscow heatedly opposed NATO membership for the two former Soviet Republics. But on missile defense, NATO leaders agreed that the proliferation of ballistic missiles pose a threat "and the allies' security must be indivisible in the face of it," said NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, adding, "We recognize the substantial contribution that the planned United States system will provide."

The leaders tasked NATO to develop options for a comprehensive missile defense architecture that would extend coverage to all allied territory. A senior U.S. official said the United States would explore ways to link the U.S. system with current and future NATO missile defense systems.

Officials have said that will mean developing defenses for short and medium range missiles to protect parts of southern Europe that would not be covered by the U.S. system, which is designed primarily to intercept long-range missiles.