Mos News
Thursday, November 9, 2006

President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that Russia was concerned about foreign nations planning to deploy weapons in space and developing armaments he called destabilizing, The Associated Press News agency reports.

While Putin didn’t name any country, his remarks appeared to reflect a growing strain in ties with the U.S.

“Some nations are trying to untie their hands to deploy weapons in space, including nuclear weapons,” Putin said in a speech to workers of the Defense Ministry’s Main Intelligence Directorate, known under its Russian acronym, GRU, the ITAR-Tass, Interfax and RIA-Novosti news agencies reported.

Putin also voiced concern about the emergence of “destabilizing weapons, such as low-yield nuclear weapons and strategic missiles with non-nuclear warheads.”

Russian officials have previously criticized U.S. plans for fitting conventional warheads to some intercontinental ballistic missiles, saying that the launch of such a missile could provoke a full-scale counterattack using strategic nuclear forces.

Again naming no country in particular, Putin also criticized “illegitimate, unilateral actions by some powers, as well as attempts by some to unceremoniously hammer through their positions while fully ignoring legitimate interests of partners.”

Putin’s criticism came amid a deepening chill in U.S.-Russian ties, strained over different approaches to global crises, such as the Iranian nuclear standoff and American criticism of the Kremlin’s democracy record and strong-arming of ex-Soviet neighbors.