Russia's foreign minister Sergei Lavrov told Poland today that a US missile defence shield Warsaw has agreed to host poses a direct threat to his country's security.
However he said Moscow remains open to further talks on the defence shield.
Poland has infuriated Moscow, its former communist-era overlord, by agreeing to host 10 interceptor missiles as part of the missile shield project. Washington says the shield is aimed against what it calls "rogue states" like Iran, not Russia.
"We cannot fail to see the risks emerging as a result of US strategic forces coming closer to our borders," Mr Lavrov told a joint news conference with his Polish counterpart Radoslaw Sikorski.
"We are certain this system in Europe can have no other target for a long time to come but Russia's strategic forces."
But Mr Lavrov, on his first trip to a European country since last month's Georgia crisis reignited tensions between Russia and the West, balanced his comments with a call for dialogue.
"We don't see Poland itself as a source of threats to the Russian Federation ... We don't agree on everything but we appreciate dialogue," he said.
In an interview for the Polish daily
Gazeta Wyborczapublished today , Mr Lavrov urged the United States and its allies to provide "guarantees" to Moscow that the shield would not be targeted against Russia.
His comments in Poland marked a slight softening of attitude after President Dmitry Medvedev recently said Moscow would have to respond militarily to Warsaw's shield deployment decision.
Mr Sikorski stressed the need for confidence-building measures and also reiterated Polish and US arguments that the shield, which will also include a radar installation in the Czech Republic, is no match for Russia's vast nuclear arsenal.
Polish officials and political analysts have expressed surprise that Mr Lavrov pressed ahead with his long-scheduled trip to Warsaw despite the missile shield row and Poland's vocal support for tiny Georgia during the South Ossetia crisis.
They say it underscores Russia's wish to repair ties with Europe after Moscow found itself largely isolated globally over Georgia. Poland, the largest ex-communist member of Nato and the European Union, is an important trade partner for Russia.
Reuters