(WARSAW) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov arrived Wednesday in the Polish capital Warsaw for his first visit to an EU member state since the Georgia conflict erupted just over a month ago.

During the official part of his stay, Lavrov is to meet Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski to discuss US plans for an missile shield that will include sites in Poland and Czech Republic.

Russia is opposed to the shield, suspecting its true intent is to isolate it and to undermine its nuclear deterrant -- not, as Washington maintains, to deter missile strikes by so-called "rogue states" such as Iran.

A senior Russian general, Nikolai Solovtsov, refused Wednesday to rule out his nation targeting the Polish and Czech missile shield sites.

Lavrov is also to discuss with his hosts the Georgia crisis -- Warsaw, along with some other formerly communist EU member states, sided with Tbilisi -- as well as bilateral issues.

Tusk acknowledged Wednesday the talks will not be easy, but he added that in the past, such meetings "helped to overcome the most difficult moments in our history."

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