"As far as I know, the site will be built somewhere else and not in the Czech Republic. So there's nothing to argue about," Paroubek, who recently resigned as the country's prime minister, told the daily Právo Aug. 26.

A day later, he told Mladá fronta Dnes that his information came from unofficial sources who say the Czech Republic will merely host a U.S. radar station, which would work in conjunction with a missile-defense base located elsewhere.

"Radar is something completely different than missiles," Paroubek said.

Newly appointed Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek confirmed Paroubek's statement, saying that if the country is to have only a radar station, there's no need for a referendum on the subject, something Czechs in increasing numbers have demanded recently.

The leaders' remarks are a startling turnaround from three weeks ago, when Foreign Affairs Minister Cyril Svoboda said that an agreement with the United States was essentially a done deal.

Indeed, there has been much movement on both sides recently but few hard sources quoted.

In July, a team from the U.S. Department of Defense spent a week in the Czech Republic touring possible missile base sites, and the media reported widely that they left encouraged.

Czech defense and foreign affairs officials went to Washington, D.C., Aug. 17 for further talks.

The United States was eyeing the Czech Republic, Poland and, more recently, the United Kingdom as potential hosts for what would be the first foreign arm in its controversial missile defense shield.

A European base would be meant to intercept long-range missiles fired from the east, notably from countries like Iran and North Korea that continue to be hostile to the West.

A decision from the United States was expected by the end of August, according to several sources.

Media reports maintain that Czech politicians tried to keep any information about the base secret because they didn't want to create controversy before June's general election.