Russia threatens to place rockets in Kaliningrad

MOSCOW: Russia issued a veiled warning on Wednesday that it could deploy rockets in its Kaliningrad enclave bordering the European Union if Washington does not draw back from its missile defence plans.

"If our offers are accepted, Russia will not consider it necessary to deploy new rocket units in the European part of the country, including Kaliningrad, to counter the threat" from the US plans, First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said, quoted by Russian news agencies.

Ivanov, who was on a visit to Uzbekistan, said Russia had "found an asymmetrical and effective response" to the US project for interceptor rockets in Poland and a linked radar in the Czech Republic.

"We know what we're doing... If our proposals are not accepted, we will take adequate measures," Ivanov said amid an escalation in tensions surrounding the US plan.

Washington sys its installations are needed to guard against possible attack from 'rogue states' such as Iran but Moscow believes the system are directed against Russia.

Ivanov's comments suggested that the issue remainedhighly contentious despite efforts to calm the atmosphere at a weekend meeting between President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart George W Bush in Kennebunkpor, Maine.