Russia will counter US missile shield - Putin

MOSCOW, Apr 27 (Reuters) President Vladimir Putin today renewed criticism of US plans to deploy a missile shield in Eastern Europe, saying Russia would take ''appropriate measures'' to counter the system.

Putin told Czech President Vaclav Klaus at a Kremlin meeting that the proposed missile shield would be used to track Russian military activities.

''These systems will monitor Russian territory as far as the Ural mountains if we don't come out with a response,'' Putin told Klaus.

''And we will indeed do this. Anyone would.'' ''We will not get hysterical about this. We will just take appropriate measures,'' he said, without elaborating.

Russia views the US plan to base 10 missile interceptors in Poland and radar in the Czech Republic from 2012 as a major threat to its national security.

Washington says the system is needed to defend Europe and US forces there against what it calls ''rogue states'' such as Iran and North Korea. But top Russian politicians say the US plan could disrupt European stability and fuel a new Cold War-style arms race.

Moscow's top brass say the missile shield does not pose any immediate military threat for Russia, but warn that Russia will have to develop new anti-missile technology to counter it.

Speaking at a news conference with Klaus, Putin compared the missile shield plan with the deployment of US Pershing-2 missiles in Western Europe in the early 1980s, which triggered a bitter diplomatic crisis in the final years of the Cold War.

The dispute over missile defence has strained already stormy relations between Moscow and Washington, with some officials talking of a new Cold War.

In a sign of growing tensions, Putin announced in a speech on Thursday that Russia was freezing its commitments under the Conventional Forces in Europe treaty, a deal hammered out at the end of the Cold War to maintain the regional strategic balance.

''For the first time elements of the US strategic nuclear system are appearing on the European continent,'' Putin said on Friday.

''This element dramatically changes the security situation in Europe.

''We do not understand ... what is happening in Europe now that requires such aggressive actions,'' Putin said. ''We see no arguments for deploying the missile shield in Europe.'' REUTERS AGL PM2140