MOSCOW, April 26 (UPI) -- Relations between Russia and NATO have worsened following controversy over U.S. plans to station a missile-defense system in Eastern Europe.
The ongoing diplomatic row touched a new low Thursday, with Russian President Vladimir Putin indicating he may renounce Russia's obligations under the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe, an agreement aimed at reducing weapons on the continent.
"I think it is necessary to announce a moratorium on Russia's implementation of the CFE treaty until all NATO countries ratify it and start to strictly adhere to it, as Russia does today unilaterally," Putin said in his annual State of the Nation address to the Russian Parliament.
NATO officials said they were highly concerned about Putin's remarks, which came as NATO foreign ministers were meeting in Oslo.
Putin's remarks are linked to plans by Washington to station bunker-protected rockets in Poland and a radar unit in the Czech Republic by 2011-12, a move that has upset Moscow and sparked diplomatic tensions in Europe.
Washington claims the missile shield is aimed at defending the United States and its allies in Europe against nuclear attacks from rogue states like Iran. Russia, however, sees the American missiles as threats against its territory and has accused Washington of provoking a new Cold War-like arms race.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice Thursday in Oslo tried to diffuse tensions, saying that the missiles were not directed against Russia, but would rather include the country into the defense shield.
