Russia warned today that it may quit a treaty on intermediate nuclear missiles.
Russian President Vladimir Putin told visiting US officials it would be "difficult" for Russia to stay in the 1987 US-Russian Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) unless it was expanded to put limits on other countries.
Mr Putin also urged US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defence Secretary Robert Gates not to rush ahead with a plan to locate elements of a missile defence shield in eastern Europe. Russia says the shield threatens its security.
Russia has alarmed some in the West by saying it will suspend compliance with another Cold War-era pact, the Conventional Forces in Europe treaty, because of disagreements with Nato.
Mr Putin, who met Ms Rice and Mr Gates at his residence just outside Moscow, said other states should be brought into the INF pact.
"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 when other countries do develop such weapons systems, and among those are countries in our near vicinity."
On the missile shield, Mr Putin said: "We hope that in the process of such complex and multifaceted talks, you will not be forcing forward your relations with the Eastern European countries."
The INF treaty bars Russia and the United States from deploying intermediate-range missiles. Russia says that leaves it unable to adequately protect itself from countries on its eastern and southern borders, including Iran, India and Pakistan, with growing arsenals.