No new arms race despite US missile plan-Russia

SEVILLE, Spain, Feb 9 (Reuters) Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov today rejected US arguments for deploying an anti-missile defence system in eastern Europe and insisted Russia would not be drawn into a Cold War-style arms race.

Ivanov said there was no need to base part of the system in NATO countries Poland and the Czech Republic to defend the United States from rockets launched in Iran and North Korea, as Washington argues.

''Any expert can prove the flight trajectory of the missile will be very far from the Czech Republic and Poland, so what is the real intention of these activities?,'' Ivanov said at a news conference after meeting NATO counterparts.

Russia has expressed alarm at the growing military advantage of the United States and its European allies. It wants a binding pledge from Washington that the anti-missile system would not be aimed at them, one Russian official was quoted by Interfax news agency as saying this week.

''We want to be absolutely sure that under no circumstances are we under any pressure, politically or militarily,'' Ivanov told journalists in the Spanish city of Seville, after meeting US Defence Secretary Robert Gates.

A glance at the map shows that Poland and the Czech Republic are in the wrong place to protect the United States from a North Korean attack, while a launch from Iran could be brought down in neighbouring states, Ivanov said.

''It is common knowledge that any missile that is following a ballistic trajectory can be intercepted at the initial booster stage. If it so...why can't our US partners deploy the system in Iraq, Afghanistan or Turkey?,'' Ivanov said.

He said Russia would upgrade its own defence systems to make sure its strategic arsenal was not rendered ineffective.

''This will not harm the Russian deterrent. We will develop our own strategic system which will have the capability to surpass any missile system,'' he said after meeting Gates.

''Our response will be asymmetric. It will not be very expansive. We will not be back to the arms race.'' Earlier Gates said he had sought to reassure Ivanov that the system posed no threat to Moscow. ''We've made quite clear to them that it's not directed at them,'' he told reporters.

Despite fierce public opposition, centre-right governments in Poland and the Czech Republic seem determined to push through plans to host the U.S. missile defence system.

The system would be composed of a radar station in the Czech Republic and up to 10 ground-based ballistic rockets, or interceptors, in Poland.

REUTERS BDP HS2233