Rice deplores Russian missile shield comment

BERLIN, Feb 21 (Reuters) US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said today she deplored a Russian general's remark that Poland and the Czech Republic could be targets if they hosted a US missile shield.

''I think it is unfortunate that the Russian head of strategic rocket forces would come out and say that somehow Poland and the Czech Republic would now be on the target list of Russia. I think that was an extremely unfortunate comment,'' Rice said in Berlin after talks with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has described Washington's plans to deploy elements of its Missile Defense System in the two former Soviet satellites as a threat to Russia's national security.

General Nikolai Solovtsov, commander of Russia's strategic forces, said on Monday that if the two central European countries took parts of the system on their territories Russian missile forces would be ''capable of having these installations as their targets''.

Rice said extensive talks with Russia had already taken place on the deployment of the shield, which the US says is designed to avert possible attacks from countries like Iran and North Korea.

''We will continue to talk to Russia about these issues and I think everybody understands that with a growing Iranian missile threat, which is quite pronounced, that there needs to be ways to deal with that problem,'' she said.

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