Russian general calls Americans 'evil'

MOSCOW, Nov. 13 (UPI) -- Russia's top military commander said Tuesday his country has no obligation to defend other countries against "the evil Americans."

"Today, there is no need to be afraid of the Russian armed forces," said Russian army Gen. Yury Baluyevsky. "However, I do not believe that the Russian military is obliged to defend the world from the evil Americans."

Baluyevsky, the chief of Russia's general staff, was responding to an interviewer on Russia Today TV who asked whether the world could depend on Russia to defend it from "insidious American plans," RIA Novosti reported.

Baluyevsky also said U.S. plans to build a missile defense system in Europe are directed against Russia. The United States insists the proposed shield, to be put in Poland and Czechoslovakia, is intended for rogue states such as Iran.

Baluyevsky was to travel to Brussels Tuesday to meet with NATO chiefs on Russia's decision to suspend its obligations to the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe Treaty. The treaty, which Russia views as outdated, limits weapons and military equipment in Europe.

"It was an onerous treaty for Russia," Baluyevsky said.