MOSCOW, May 24 (UPI) -- U.S. plans to deploy ballistic missiles in Eastern Europe will result in Russia increasing its weaponry, a senior Russian general said Wednesday.
Gen. Yuri Baluyevsky, chief of general staff, said tentative plans to install U.S. "missile shields" possibly in Poland or Romania was an obvious call for Russia to do likewise, the Novosti news agency reported.
A reports earlier in the week suggested the United States might wish to base early defense missiles in Eastern Europe in case Iran develops a nuclear weapon capability.
"The very fact of the deployment of the first-line missile defenses in this region is unequivocally intended to neutralize Russia's strategic potential," he said.
His remarks echoed what Russian President Vladimir Putin said in his May 10 state of the nation address, the agency said.
Baluyevsky also boasted to the Interfax news agency Russia technology was already ahead of the United States.
"Our intercontinental ballistic missiles and warheads will successfully penetrate both existing and nascent missile defense systems that are being developed today and will be developed tomorrow," Baluyevsky said.
