Moscow: Prime Minister Vladimir Putin told CNN television that Russia would deploy nuclear weapons and "strike forces" if it were shut out of a Western missile shield, adding punch to a warning from President Dmitry Medvedev.
In an interview with Larry King taped on Tuesday, Putin said missile threats against Europe must be tackled jointly — a reference to an agreement reached at a Russia-Nato summit this month to cooperate on missile defence.
But if Russia's proposals are rejected and Western missile defence installations create "additional threats" near its borders, "Russia will have to ensure its own security", Putin said.
Russia would "put in place new strike forces... against the new threats which will have been created along our borders", he said.
"New missile, nuclear technologies will be put in place," he added.
Threat to ties
Putin said Russia was not threatening the West, but the remarks underscored the Kremlin's insistence on a significant role in a missile defence system and suggested improving ties could sour again if agreement is not reached.
In his state of the nation address, Medvedev warned that a new arms race would erupt if US and Nato offers of cooperation on missile defence failed to produce a concrete agreement within a decade.
