Prague (CTK) - The US does not count with any Russian troops permanently deployed at the US radar base that may be stationed in the Czech Republic, Czech President Vaclav Klaus said after a meeting of the Czech National Security Council Tuesday.

A discussion about the presence of Russian soldiers on Czech soil was opened after the recent visit of U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates to Prague. Gates then said Russian representatives could be present at the U.S. bases in the Czech Republic and Poland.

"It has been a minor, very technical debate on certain, occasional, random monitoring since the beginning. There was no talk of any deployment of troops on Czech soil," Klaus said.

Klaus said such stories were only fabricated by the media. Czech media speculated about a possible permanent deployment of Russian soldiers in the country.

The USA has long declared it is open to cooperation with Russia in missile defence. Russia's top representatives strongly criticised the plans to station U.S. bases in Poland and the Czech Republic. They claimed the bases were aimed against Russia and threatened to adopt retaliatory measures.

The Czech Republic and the USA have been negotiating on the possible stationing of a U.S. radar base on the Brdy military grounds some 90 km southwest of Prague since the spring.

This story is from the Czech News Agency (ČTK).