WARSAW, August 30 (RIA Novosti) - Over 50% of Poles think that economic sanctions should be imposed on Russia following the conflict in South Ossetia, the Gfk Polonia research center said on Saturday.

According to the opinion poll, carried out in Poland, 53% of respondents said Warsaw should push the EU to introduce sanctions against Russia during an emergency meeting on the crisis in Georgia and South Ossetia on Monday. While 49% of respondent think Russia should be blocked from joining the WTO and 46% think Russia should be excluded from the Group of Eight leading industrialized nations.

Poland, along with Western countries, was quick to condemn Russia's response to Georgia's military offensive on South Ossetia on August 8, as well as Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's announcement on Tuesday recognizing Georgia's breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states.

Leaders from Latvia, Estonia and Poland said in a joint statement Thursday, following a meeting in Tallinn ahead of the EU meeting in Brussels, "Georgia requires Europe's support in order to recover from the destruction of the war, which in the short term means extensive humanitarian aid for relieving the problems of war refugees as well as those who have lost their homes."

Poland and the U.S. recently signed an agreement to deploy 10 interceptor missiles on Polish soil as part of a U.S. missile defense shield in Central Europe aimed at so called rogue states, like Iran.

The deal followed the signing of an agreement in July to place a radar in the Czech Republic.

Moscow has consistently expressed its opposition to the U.S. missile shield, saying it threatens its national security. The U.S. claims the shield is designed to prevent missile attacks by what it calls "rogue states," including Iran.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said in an interview "These missiles are close to our borders and constitute a threat to us. This will create additional tension and we will have to respond to it in some way, naturally using military means."

Only 26% of respondents, out of a sample of 500, thought that relations with Moscow should not be changed.