Medvedev: U.S. missile deal aimed at Russia

President Dmitry Medvedev said on Friday that the United States' deal with Poland on deploying a missile defence system in Europe shows that the rocket shield is really directed against Russia.

Poland agreed on Thursday to host elements of a U.S. global anti-missile system after Washington agreed to boost Poland's own air defences.

"This decision clearly demonstrates everything we have said recently," Medvedev said when asked about the agreement at a joint news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.

"The deployment of new anti-missile forces in Europe has as its aim the Russian Federation," Medvedev said.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, speaking next to Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili in Tbilisi, hit back saying Washington had tried to work with Moscow to prove that the shield was not directed against Russia.

The row with Washington over missile defence comes amid an international crisis over Georgia, an ally of the United States aspiring to join NATO. Russian troops routed Georgian forces which had tried to take control of a Georgian separatist region backed by Moscow.

Russian units then went into several towns in Georgia proper, provoking the ire of Washington, with top U.S. officials invoking memories of the Soviet Union's occupation of Eastern Europe during the Cold War.

MOSCOW DISPLEASURE

Washington says the missile system is aimed at protecting the United States and its allies from long range missiles that could in the future be fired by Iran or groups such as al-Qaeda.

The Kremlin says the system is aimed at Russia and undermines Russian security. Russian generals boast it could never stop the fire power of Russia's giant missile arsenal.

In a sign of Moscow's displeasure, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Thursday canceled a planned trip to Warsaw in September, Polish diplomats said.

"The moment has been chosen well and therefore any fairy tales about deterring other states, fairy tales that with the help of this system, we will deter some sort of rogue states no longer work," Medvedev said.

"It is sad for Europe and for everyone living on this densely populated continent. But it is not dramatic," he said. "We will continue to work on this and we are ready to continue discussions with all participants. But it is clear this decision will not create any sort of calm."

Russia earlier this year said it would use unidentified "military means" if the U.S. deployed a missile defence shield close to its borders.

President George W. Bush on Friday expressed his support for Georgia and accused Russia of "bullying" and damaging its international standing by sending its military into Georgia.

But Bush, delivering a statement from the White House, also said the United States wanted to have good ties with Russia and not revert to Cold War-era relationships.