The Russian army's chief of staff accused the West on Saturday of playing politics with European arms control and warned that the launch of US interceptor missiles could trigger a Russian missile strike.
"Western states have deliberately turned an agreement on European arms control into an instrument to achieve political aims" against Russia, General Yury Baluyevksy said at a press conference broadcast on state TV.
Russia on Wednesday walked away from the Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) treaty, a key Cold War agreement that limits the stationing of troops and heavy weapons from the Atlantic coast to Russia's Ural mountains.
Baluyevsky criticized the NATO alliance's eastward expansion to the Russian border but said Russia had "no plans for massing troops" despite now having the freedom to do so after suspending its adherence to the treaty.
Russia said it pulled out of the CFE because of the failure of 26 NATO members to ratify the revised 1999 version of the treaty.
NATO countries have said they will only ratify if Moscow lives up to a pledge to pull its troops out of former Soviet republics Georgia and Moldova.
Russia's decision on the CFE treaty has raised a storm of protest from Western governments, with NATO calling the move "deplorable" and the US State Department saying Russia was "wrong."
Baluyevsky also criticized US plans to deploy interceptor missiles in Poland and a radar in the Czech Republic as part of a missile defense shield.
US offers made to Russia in negotiations over the missile defense shield were "unacceptable" and the US plans could not be interpreted in any other way than as being aimed against Russia, Baluyevsky said.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Kislyak reinforced that message at the press conference, saying that results of US-Russia consultations over the shield had been "disappointing."
Baluyevsky also warned that the launch of an interceptor missile by the US could trigger a Russian missile strike because it could be mistaken for a ballistic missile aimed at Russia.
"We are talking about the possibility of a retaliatory strike being triggered by the mistaken classification of an interceptor missile launch," he said, adding that Russia's defenses were controlled by an automatic system.
"If we assume that Iran does try to launch a missile against the United States ... then interceptor missiles from Poland would fly in the direction of Russia," he said.
"I don't mean to scare anyone, but this isn't a scare story ... It's a technical detail that could affect the military stability of the world," Baluyevsky said.
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