Russia warns Caucasus states on US missile shield

MOSCOW, Mar 9 (Reuters) Russia today warned former Soviet states in the Caucasus against hosting any parts of a controversial US anti-missile shield.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin said in a statement on the foreign ministry's Web site www.mid.ru that relations with Russia would be damaged if any country even considered deploying the U.S. shield.

''Basing of parts of a US anti-missile shield in the Caucasus, without doubt, would not become a positive factor in the development of friendly relations,'' Kamynin said.

Russia and the United States are competing for allies in the former Soviet Union states of the Caucasus and Central Asia, which the Kremlin sees as its diplomatic back yard after the control Moscow enjoyed in Soviet and Tsarist times.

Washington says it wants the system, consisting of radar stations and batteries of interceptor missiles, to shoot down hostile rockets launched by terrorists or ''rogue states''.

Kamynin also warned relations could be hurt with ''those countries in the region which could look at the possibility of such a deployment.'' The US Missile Defense Agency said this month that Washington could be interested in locating a radar in an unspecified Caucasus state as part of the Missile Defence System it plans to deploy in Europe.

US Air Force Lt Gen Henry Obering said having a radar in the Caucasus region, located just south of Russia, would be ''useful, but not essential''. He did not specify a country.

Moscow believes the shield threatens its national security and has promised to counter it with existing and future weapons.

REUTERS PDM RAI2320