Russian President Vladimir Putin evoked one of the most dangerous confrontations of the Cold War to highlight Russian opposition to a proposed US missile defense system in Europe, likening the threat to the Cuban missile crisis.
The comments -- made at the end of a summit between Russia and EU that failed to resolve several festering disputes -- were the latest in a series of belligerent statements from Putin.
Emboldened by oil and gas-fueled economic clout, Russia is increasingly at loggerheads with Washington and Europe on issues ranging from Iran to energy supplies and human rights.
Putin traveled to Portugal, which holds the EU's rotating presidency, for talks with leaders of the 27-nation bloc, in an effort to patch up widening differences.
But despite a positive spin put on the meeting by Putin and EU President Jose Manuel Barroso -- who called it "open, frank and productive" -- the summit yielded no major breakthroughs.
The EU and Russia have been without a new cooperation agreement for more than a year now, during which time doubts have grown in many European capitals about the reliability of Russia's energy supplies and trade policies toward countries such as Poland.
Putin used the stage of a news conference at the summit's conclusion on Friday to reiterate Russia's stalwart opposition to US plans to put elements of a missile defense system in the former Soviet bloc countries of Poland and the Czech Republic -- both of which are now NATO members.
"Analogous actions by the Soviet Union, when it deployed missiles in Cuba, prompted the `Caribbean crisis,'" Putin said, using the Russian term for the Cuban missile crisis.
"For us the situation is technologically very similar. We have withdrawn the remains of our bases from Vietnam, from Cuba, and have liquidated everything there, while at our borders, such threats against our country are being created," he said.
Putin also suggested that the tension was much lower than in 1962 because the US and Russia are now "partners."
His relationship with US President George W. Bush, Putin said, helps solve problems, calling him a "personal friend."
Putin said there has been no concrete US response to his counterproposals for cooperation on missile defense, but added that the US is now listening to Russia's concerns about its plans and seeking to address them.
In Washington, White House press secretary Dana Perino underscored those remarks rather than the Cuban missile crisis analogy, saying "there's no way you could walk away without thinking that he thinks that we can work together."
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