Putin pledges effective response to US anti-missile plan

By Staff
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MOSCOW, Feb 1 (Reuters) President Vladimir Putin criticised Washington's plans for an anti-missile system in Central Europe and said today Russia would come up with a ''highly effective'' response.

The US has proposed stationing a radar station in the Czech Republic and a battery of rockets in Poland to detect and shoot down hostile missiles, which the Pentagon says could be fired from Iran in the future.

Putin dismissed Washington's arguments about defending Europe from Iran and said the anti-missile system would ''directly affect'' Russia.

''Our specialists don't think that anti-missile systems in Eastern Europe are aimed against terrorists or Iran. Can you really fight terrorists with ballistic missiles?'' he told a news conference in Moscow.

Iran, he said, did not possess long-range ballistic missiles, only medium-range devices.

''We are also thinking about how to ensure our external security,'' Putin added. ''All our responses will be asymmetric but they will be highly effective''.

Putin said Russia already had systems capable of overcoming missile defences but promised a future generation of weapon on which missile defence systems ''will have absolutely no effect''.

He did not give details.

Putin also complained about Washington's decision last year to impose sanctions on Russian arms firms because of sales to Iran and Syria. The real motive, he said, was to stop Russian arms firms from taking business away from US rivals.

''We have taken a serious niche on the arms market in recent years and will continue to boost our position,'' Putin told the news conference. ''I consider (the) sanctions as a sign of unfair competition''.

REUTERS AKJ HT1932

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