Putin Warns Us Over Missile 'shield' Plan

Vladimir Putin today warned the US against rushing to implement plans for a missile "shield" in eastern Europe.

The Russian president was speaking at the start of talks with senior US officials in Moscow.

"The one thing on which I would like to focus attention is that in the process of these difficult negotiations we hope that you will not force through previous agreements with eastern European countries," the Itar-Tass news agency quoted him as telling the US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, and the defense secretary, Robert Gates.

US plans to install 10 missile interceptors in Poland, linked to a missile-tracking radar system in the Czech Republic, have bedeviled US-Soviet relations in recent months, and there are few signs of a breakthrough that will improve the political atmosphere.

Shortly before the talks began, reporters asked the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, whether he expected any breakthroughs. "Breaks, definitely," he replied - "through or down, I don't know."

The Pentagon has said the system would provide an early warning system against "rogue states" such as Iran, which the west believes is developing nuclear weapons, despite Tehran's denials.

But Russia believes the US is overstating the Iranian threat and fears that a new missile defense system in eastern Europe would undermine the deterrence value of its own nuclear arsenal.

Despite Russian opposition and growing public unease in Poland and the Czech Republic to the US plans, Ms Rice said before the talks that the US would press ahead with its plans.

"We've been very clear that we need the Czech and Polish sites," she said yesterday.

But she added that there was "considerable interest" in Russian ideas for cooperation, such as sharing a Soviet-era tracking station in Azerbaijan.

"We're going to keep exploring ideas. We want to explore ideas," she said. "We are interested in other potential sites as well, and we may be able to find ways to put that together."

In the summer, Mr Putin offered the US joint use of a Russian early-warning radar in Garbala, in Azerbaijan, in return for the US dropping its Czech plans. But the US says Garbala could only complement the Czech radar plan.

Iran is another bone of contention between Washington and Moscow. Mr Putin this week played down the Iranian nuclear threat. During talks in Moscow with the French president, Nicholas Sarkozy, he said there was no evidence Iran was trying to build nuclear weapons.

But Ms Rice, on her way to Moscow, accused Iran of lying about the aim of its nuclear program and deceiving the UN's atomic watchdog about its intentions.

"There is an Iranian history of obfuscation and, indeed, lying to the IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency]," Ms Rice said.

The Bush administration is pushing for new sanctions against Iran, but Russia and China oppose such a move.

With what promise to be tough talks ahead, the US and Russia also differ on the future of a treaty limiting deployment of conventional military forces in Europe, as well as over the prospect of Kosovo's declaring independence from Serbia as early as December.

Beyond the discussion with Mr Putin, Mr Gates and Ms Rice are also meeting Mr Lavrov and the defense minister, Anatoly Serdyukov.