US Defence Secretary Robert Gates Thursday blasted Russia's threat to deploy missiles in its Baltic Sea territory of Kaliningrad in response to a new US missile defence system.
"Within hours of the conclusion of the American election, Russian President (Dmitry) Medvedev responded by threatening to place missiles in Kaliningrad -- hardly the welcome a new American administration deserves." said Gates.
"Such provocative remarks are unnecessary and misguided," he added in comments to reporters after a NATO meeting in Estonia.
Just a day after Barack Obama triumphed in the US presidential election, Medvedev threatened to shift missiles to Kaliningrad.
The territory is sandwiched between ex-communist NATO members Poland and Lithuania and is already home to a large Russian base.
Medvedev said the move would "neutralise" a planned US system, which foresees the deployment of missile interceptors in Poland and a linked radar in the Czech Republic, both NATO members that were once part of the Soviet bloc.
Although the United States insists its facilities, due to be in place by 2013-2014, are needed to protect against what it calls "rogue states" such as Iran, Moscow sees them as a threat to its security.
"As we try to make clear, Russia has nothing to fear from a defensive missile shield or for that matter from the presence of democratic nations on its periphery," Gates said.
"Rather than engaging in the kind of rhetoric associated with a bygone era, the United States would prefer that Russia works with us to combat mutual security threats," he said.
"We will continue to seek a constructive, positive relationship with the Russian government," he added.
The US missile defence plan has NATO-wide backing.
Speaking in Tallinn on Thursday, NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer also criticised the Russian president.
Medvedev's comments had been "unsolicited, unnecessary and unhelpful", he said, while noting that they had subsequently been "nuanced" by the Kremlin.
Earlier this month, Washington said it had made fresh suggestions to ease Russia's concerns about the US system, along with proposals to replace their Cold War-era Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) when it expires in December 2009.
But on Wednesday, a Kremlin official said Russia could not accept the US proposals on missile defence and would take up negotiations with the incoming Obama administration.
US President George W. Bush, whose administration piloted the missile defence plan, leaves office in January.
Source: AFP American Edition
