Kyiv Post
Posted: 2007-12-17 18:00:56 [1]

MOSCOW (AP) - Russia's top military officer on Saturday accused the United States of seeking direct confrontation with Moscow and warned again that US plans to deploy missile defenses in Europe would destabilize the continent.

Gen. Yuri Baluyevsky said such a deployment would prompt an "asymmetrical response." He did not elaborate.

Baluyevsky spoke at a joint news conference along with Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Kislyak, who repeated that Russia would not increase troop levels on its western border even after suspending participation in a key arms treaty.

The comments were the latest in a series of belligerent warnings to the United States and NATO from Russian officials.

Baluyevsky, the chief of Russia's general staff, said US Defense Department policies continued to openly challenge Moscow.

"The question of confrontation with Russia, mildly speaking, including direct confrontation, unfortunately has not been struck from the agenda by my colleagues at the Pentagon," he told reporters.

He did not elaborate.

Among the issues that have most undermined Russian-US relations in recent years is a US plan to put elements of a missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic - former Warsaw Bloc members that have joined NATO.

Russia has alleged that the system will be used to spy on Russian missile and military forces; Washington says it will help defend Europe from a potential missile attack from Iran.

"We plan and, depending on the situation, will take appropriate and asymmetric measures aimed at preventing the deterioration of our defense capability," Baluyevsky was quoted as saying by Interfax.

On Wednesday, Moscow formally suspended participation in the Conventional Forces in Europe treaty, which limits the deployment of tanks, aircraft and other heavy weapons across the continent.

Officials have said the moratorium was not a threat, but rather an effort to persuade NATO nations to ratify a 1999 update of the pact.

Kislyak repeated that Russia did not intend to increase its force levels on the western border despite the moratorium.

"Russia does not plan an extraordinary buildup of its forces that would threaten other states' security," Kislyak was quoted by Interfax as saying.

Moscow has also bristled over NATO's eastward expansion to include former Soviet republics in the Baltics.