RUSSIA:Russian president Vladimir Putin warned yesterday that Russia was considering withdrawing from a major cold war arms treaty banning intermediate nuclear missiles unless it was expanded to include other states.
Mr Putin said that Moscow was planning to dump the intermediate-range nuclear forces treaty (INF) - signed in a landmark deal between the US and Soviet Union in 1987 - unless countries such as China were included in its provisions.
His comments came during talks in Moscow yesterday involving the US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, and defence secretary, Robert Gates, and Russia's foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, and defence minister, Anatoly Serdyukov.
Mr Putin repeated his opposition to US plans to site elements of a missile defence shield in central Europe.
The project threatened the US's and Russia's strategic relationship, he said.
"We need other international participants to assume the same obligations which have been assumed by the Russian Federation and the US," he said.
"If we are unable to attain such a goal . . . it will be difficult for us to keep within the framework of the treaty in a situation where other countries do develop such weapons systems, and among those are countries in our near vicinity."
He appeared to refer to the INF treaty - between Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan - under which both sides agreed to scrap their arsenals of intermediate-range nuclear and conventional ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles.
Russian defence experts said yesterday that the Kremlin was unhappy with the treaty because of concerns over the growing mid-range nuclear arsenals of countries such as China, Pakistan and India. Iran is also developing a medium-range missile programme.
"We are speaking about the plans of a number of neighbouring countries developing short- and mid-range missile systems. While our two countries are bound by the provisions of the INF treaty, there will be a certain imbalance in the region," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
The treaty applies only to the US, Russia and the ex-Soviet republics of Ukraine and Belarus.
Since denouncing the US in Munich this year, Mr Putin has withdrawn from the conventional armed forces in Europe treaty and resumed long-range patrols by Russia's strategic nuclear bombers.
Yesterday Mr Putin kept his visitors waiting for 30 minutes. He then launched into a monologue, warning Washington not to rush ahead with its plans to locate elements of its missile defence shield in Poland and the Czech Republic.
After the talks Mr Gates said the US had some "new ideas" to assuage Russia's fears over the shield, including allowing Russian inspectors to visit the sites.