07:34 GMT, August 19, 2008 In the wake of Russia's conflict with Georgia and the agreement between U.S. and Polish diplomats over the missile shield last week the support for the missile defence pact with the U.S. has soared in Poland. According to a new poll conducted by Rzeczpospolita newspaper, the Caucasus conflict has caused a swing in public opinion in Poland over hosting missile interceptors on a domestic soil.

In this survey based on interviews of 500 people, fifty-eight percent of Poles said they now supported the Pentagon's plan to base 10 missile interceptors in Poland, while 46 percent were against the scheme.

A great part of them (45 percent) expected Poland's security to be strengthened by the missile shield. Thirty percent, however, believed it would be weakened.

The last similar poll conducted in July found the majority (53 percent) of Poles opposed to the missile shield.

U.S. and Polish diplomats came to an agreement over the anti-missile deal last week. Under the pact, Poland is to receive Patriot air defense missiles and a special pledge of US military cooperation in the case of threats against Poland.

Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice are expected to sign the deal Wednesday in Warsaw. However, the Parliamentary approval is still required.

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U.S. diplomats says that the system, designed to destroy incoming ballistic missiles, is intended to defend against growing threats from so-called rogue states such as Iran and North Korea.

Russia, however, is convinced that the base is aimed at Russia’s missile force and warned Poland that it is exposing itself to attack — even a nuclear one — by accepting a U.S. missile interceptor base on its soil.

“Poland, by deploying [the system] is exposing itself to a strike — 100 percent,” said General Anatoly Nogovitsyn, the deputy chief of the General Staff on Friday.

President Dmitry Medvedev said the deal “absolutely, clearly demonstrates what we had said earlier — the deployment has the Russian Federation as its target.”

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice pointed out, that “Poland is an independent country. And it’s an ally of the United States. And it’s a democratic country, to whose security the United States is committed”.

She added that “Russia should welcome having democracies on its border, not threaten them.”

Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski said Friday that Poland is willing to let Russia inspect the future missile base to give Moscow “tangible proof” that it is not directed against Russia, the Polish news agency PAP reported.