Schroeder calls US missile plan is "dangerous"

MOSCOW, Sep 8 (Reuters) US plans to site parts of a missile defence shield in Poland and the Czech Republic are ''politically dangerous'', former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said today.

''From my point of view the missile defence system is politically dangerous. It is perceived as an attempt to isolate Russia, which is not in Europe's political interests,'' said Schroeder, who is a personal friend of President Vladimir Putin.

''It is Germany's responsibility ... to persuade the United States to abandon these plans,'' he said at a round table discussion with political analysts and journalists.

Schroeder, who formed his friendship with Putin as chancellor, was promoting a Russian edition of his book ''Decisions -- My Life in Politics'', which lavishes praise on the policies of the Kremlin chief.

The United States wants to base interceptor missiles and a radar system in Poland and the Czech Republic, saying it needs protection against missile attacks from what it terms ''rogue states'' like Iran and North Korea.

Russia has reacted furiously, saying the plan will upset a delicate strategic balance between major powers and poses a threat to its own security. Schroeder said the plan was not in the European Union's interests either.

''It is presented as though the plans are the business of the countries involved and the Americans. But they concern Europe as a whole,'' Schroeder said, adding the EU should brush aside ''narrow-minded nationalistic interests''.

Schroeder, who now chairs a German-Russian consortium building a major gas pipeline under the Baltic Sea, is one of only a few Western politicians to publicly side with Russia on many political issues.

MOST INTERESTING PARTS Although trade and investment are booming, diplomatic relations between Russia and the European Union have deteriorated sharply over the past year.

This is partly because of Russia's squabbles with the Union's new members such as Poland, which were once part of the Soviet bloc and are now wary of Moscow's rising influence.

Schroeder was visiting Russia three months ahead of a parliamentary election and six months before a poll to elect a successor to Putin. But he was tight-lipped when questioned about Putin's plans for the presidential succession.

Schroeder appeared at the book presentation ceremony with First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, a longtime Putin ally who also chairs state gas giant Gazprom.

Medvedev, who wrote an introduction to the Russian edition of Schroeder's book, is seen as one of the possible candidates to succeed Putin. Putin has not yet said whom he will endorse as his successor.

Putin has served two consecutive terms and is barred from standing again next year, though the constitution would allow him to run a third time in 2012.

REUTERS PDT BST2227