U.S. will pay to help destroy excess Czech missiles

The United States will pay for the disposal of excess missile systems, the daily Pravo reports. The Czech Foreign Ministry was approached by the American embassy in Prague in February and was offered financial assistance of USD 600,000 (over CZK 12,000,000) with the disposal of excess Soviet-produced missiles. The Czech army is planning to destroy over 1300 of these missiles together with more than 600 launching pads until the end of this year and only then will the Foreign Ministry receive the money. The U.S. government fears that the missiles, if not destroyed, could be sold to third parties and eventually used by terrorists.