Russia upset but "no hysterics" over U.S. shield

By Oleg Shchedrov

TOYAKO, Japan (Reuters) - Russia will consider how to retaliate over a planned U.S. missile shield but wants to continue talks on the issue with Washington, President Dmitry Medvedev said on Wednesday.

Washington and Prague signed a deal on Tuesday to place a tracking radar in the Czech Republic as part of a system the United States says is needed to protect against any missile attack from countries such as Iran.

Russia is sensitive to any Western military build-up near its borders and says it considers the U.S. missile shield plans a direct threat to its security.

"We are extremely upset by this situation," Medvedev told a news conference on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, where he was attending a summit of the Group of Eight leaders.

"We will not be hysterical about this but we will think of retaliatory steps," he said without specifying what measures Russia might take.

Russia's foreign ministry warned on Tuesday that Moscow would be forced to take undefined military measures if the missile shield was deployed, a response which dismayed Washington.

U.S Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called Russia's response "predictable, if disappointing".

"I still hope that Russia will look at the actual threat environment, look at the fact that the Iranians are developing ever-longer ranges of missiles which they apparently intend to test and that the Russians will see that this is not aimed at them," Rice told a news conference in Sofia.

Poland said Moscow's reaction showed that its alliance with the U.S. should be strengthened. The Czech Republic said the shield was not aimed at Russia.

"(Russia's reaction) proves we need to strengthen our alliance with the United States because beyond our eastern border there are politicians who use a language we thought had vanished many years ago, the language of might and imperial ambitions," said Michal Kaminski, an aide to Polish President Lech Kaczynski.

Iran, suspected by the West of developing nuclear arms, test-fired 9 missiles on Wednesday and said it was ready to retaliate if the United States and Israel attacked. Speculation Israel could strike Iran has mounted since its air force held an exercise in June that U.S. officials said involved 100 aircraft.

U.S. Republican presidential candidate John McCain said Tehran's missile test proved that the missile shield was needed.

Russia is upset that proposals made by former President Vladimir Putin for a joint early warning system on missile launches had been ignored by Washington.

"There has been no reaction," Medvedev said. "They are conducting sleepy talks with us and that means the (U.S. shield) idea will be realised."

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