Putin: No START means Russian nuke buildup

WASHINGTON, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- Russia will have to build its nuclear capability if the U.S. Senate doesn't ratify the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said.

The buildup "isn't a threat on our part," Putin said told CNN's Larry King in an interview to air Wednesday. "We don't want that to happen. … We've been simply saying that this is what all of us expects to happen if we don't agree on a joint effort there."

The agreement would reduce each country's deployed nuclear warheads by about a third, would limit each side to a maximum of 1,550 warheads and no more than 700 launchers, and would allow the two nations to resume on-site inspections.

Obama called the ratification an immediate priority, saying it was critical to national security and a cornerstone of U.S.-Russia relations. However, several Republicans have called for a delay in ratifying the treaty, saying they were concerned about missile defense and modernizing the U.S. nuclear arsenal.

Without the treaty, Putin told King, Russia would have to arm itself against potential "new threats" posed by U.S. plans for a European-based missile defense system.

"We have been told that you'll do it in order to secure you against the, let's say, Iranian nuclear threat," Putin said. "But such a threat, as of now, doesn't exist."

When asked about a State Department cable released by Wikileaks in which U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates describes the Russian government as an "oligarchy run by the security services," Putin said Gates was "deeply misled."

"When we are talking with our American friends and tell them, there are systemic problems in this regard, we can hear from them 'Don't interfere with our affairs. This is our tradition and it's going to continue like that.' We are not interfering," Putin told King. "But to our colleagues, I would also like to advise you, don't interfere either (with) the sovereign choice of the Russian people."