US says Putin missile warning "not helpful"

ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE, June 4 (Reuters) President Vladimir Putin's warning that Russia would aim missiles at Europe if the United States pursued its plan for a missile defense shield near Russia's borders is ''not helpful,'' a senior US official said today.

US National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley, speaking to reporters on President George W Bush's plane on his way to a G8 summit in Germany, said: ''We would like to have a constructive dialogue with Russia on this issue. We have had it in the past.'' Putin warned in an interview released yesterday that Russia would revert to its Cold War stance of aiming missiles at Europe if Washington went ahead with its plan to site parts of its planned shield in Poland and the Czech Republic.

''There has been some escalation in the rhetoric. We think that that is not helpful,'' Hadley said when asked about Putin's warning, issued just days before the Russian president meets Bush and other leaders of the Group of Eight industrial countries.

He reiterated that the missile system, which Washington says is meant to defend against a potential missile threat from what it considers renegade nations, is not being developed with a view of Russia as an enemy.

''It does not pose a threat to Russia. Hopefully it is not about a threat from Russia,'' Hadley said.

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