"We had three mighty programs to asymmetrically counteract the national missile defense (NMD) systems of the United States during the period of Reagan's 'Star Wars'," said Sergeyev, who commanded Russia's Strategic Missile Troops before taking the ministerial post.

"A lot of money was invested in those programs, which made it possible to do research and to develop and even more."

He added that the programmes were mothballed "because there was no need for them any more. Our ideas of asymmetrical measures regarding the 'star wars' programme changed, but we still have them and can take them up again."

Sergeyev said he doubted the workability of the curent NMD model favoured by US President George W. Bush, adding it involved "really complex technologies, but complex technologies are not reliable as a rule."

He also warned that US deployment could spark a new arms race and destroy the current framework of arms control that has survived intact for almost 30 years under the 1972 treaty.

"The ABM Treaty is a unique and perfect one, which has laid the foundation for the reduction of strategic offensive armaments. That is why we call it a cornerstone of strategic stability," the defence minister added.

Washington argues that the Cold-War era treaty is out-of-date and needs modifying to protect the United States from attack by so-called rogue states such as North Korea and Iran.

Russian President Vladimir Putin warned the United States last month that NMD deployment would "irreparably damage" global stability.

Efforts in North Korea and Iran to build long-range missiles prompted the United States to go it alone with a nuclear defence system, arguing that it is increasingly liable to attack.

Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov underlined last week that the NMD dispute was not "only a Russian-US problem," adding that Moscow wanted to consult the European Union.

US, Russia clash at Munich conference
Sergeyev comments followed heated debate Monday at a conference in Munich where the new US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told an international conference it would push for a national missile defense (NMD), but a senior Russian official warned Sunday this would undermine world security.

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder had opened the two-day "Munich Conference on Security Policy" Saturday by calling on the United States to discuss national missile defense with EU countries, particularly in light of objections from Russia and China that are causing concern in Europe.

Rumsfeld responded by saying the United States would consult its European allies before deploying missile defense shields, but he reaffirmed President George W. Bush's determination to go ahead with protection against attacks from rogue states such as Iraq or even individual terrorists, whatever Europe might think.

On the first visit to Europe by a senior Bush administration official since the new president was sworn in on January 20, Rumsfeld said the United States was ready to help its allies "deploy such defenses."

Russian security council secretary Sergei Ivanov on Sunday attacked the American NMD plans as undermining the current world strategic balance and setting the stage for an arms race in outer space.

Ivanov said US deployment of such a shield against attack from rogue states would render the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) treaty "senseless."

"And the destruction of the ABM treaty ... will result in annihilation of the whole structure of strategic stability and create prerequisites for a new arms race, including the one in outer space," Ivanov said.

But Rumsfeld insisted that the United States "intends to develop and deploy a missile defense designed to defend our people and forces against a limited ballistic missile attack."

Increased US missile defense, reduced US peacekeeping in the Balkans and concern over European plans for a 60,000-strong rapid reaction force are at the center of a debate that has exposed divisions within the alliance, and a fear of division across the Atlantic, more than a decade after the end of the Cold War.

Countries such as Germany have echoed Russian concerns that NMD could result in a new arms race and shatter the current world strategic balance.

German Defense Minister Rudolf Scharping said Sunday that Germany wanted to avoid alienating Russia and was seeking its "stronger integration in Europe-Atlantic structures."

But US Senator Joseph Lieberman, the losing vice-presidential candidate in the US elections, despite arguing for continued engagement in helping Russia develop democracy and a market economy, said times had changed and that the "ABM treaty was the expression of a bi-polar world. We are in a multi-polar world."

Rumsfeld said: "There is little doubt in my mind that if you were seeking a system that was earliest to deploy, the most cost-effective, and then technically the best, you would very likely come up with something other than if you sat down and tried to design a system that would fit within a (ABM) treaty that was signed 25 years ago," he said.

Ivanov said, however: "Restraining the so-called rogue countries ... may be carried out more effectively from the point of view of both expenses and consequences by means of common political effort.

"The situation with North Korea is the obvious example," he said.

Ivanov reiterated the Russian position that the way to control weapons was through ratifying current arms control agreements.

If the United States maintained the ABM treaty, he said, "Russia is ready for, mutually with the USA, radical cuts of strategic offensive weapons to as low as 1,500 units and even lower than this level."

Russia was ready to start immediate talks with the United States in this area, he said.

Ivanov said Moscow would host a conference in April "on the prevention of outer space militarization."

He also promised that Russia would use export control as a way of fighting the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

But he added: "Export control is not to be the means of political pressure or result in groundless denial of access to advanced technologies and legal means of self-defense."

Washington has expressed concern about the export of Russian technology and weapons to countries like Iran.

earlier Interfax report
Russia will work to keep strategic balance if the U.S. quits ABM Treaty

Moscow - Feb 5 (Interfax) - Russia will have to take additional measures to keep a strategic balance if the United States decides to withdraw from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, Defense Minister Marshal Igor Sergeyev told Interfax in an exclusive interview on Monday.

"Russia has ideas which will help to maintain a sufficient security level, but these measures will be taken as a forced response," he said. "I do not doubt that a number of other countries will do the same."

Sergeyev, who was the Commander-in-Chief of the Strategic Missile Troops before he took the ministerial post, said, "we had three mighty programs to asymmetrically counteract the national missile defense systems of the United States during the period of Reagan's 'Star Wars'. A lot of money was invested in those programs, which made it possible to do research and to develop and even more."

The programs were halted "because there was no need for them anymore. Our ideas of asymmetrical measures regarding the 'star wars' program changed, but we still have them and can take them up again," Sergeyev noted.

Sergeyev said he doubted the efficiency of the American plan to deploy a national missile defense system. "The Americans may regard these systems as unique, but we do not share their opinion. These are really complex technologies, but complex technologies are not reliable as a rule," the minister remarked.

Russian military specialists are ready to prove to their American colleagues that the existent missile defense plans cannot guarantee national security, he said. "If we have a concrete, open scientific and military-technical discussion, one will clearly see that the system will not be a full proof of irresistibility at the current level. What is more, it will prompt a new phase of the arms race and ruin the existent system of arms control," he noted.

Sergeyev admitted that the current mechanism for control over the non-proliferation of missile technologies is imperfect. "This mechanism should be upgraded, the control should be made global, and priority should be given to political methods of solving the military security problem. That is the way to efficiency in non-proliferation measures and, consequently, in the protection of national territories," he said. "In this case security would be equal for all: Europe, Russia, the United States, China and other countries. A unilateral withdrawal from the ABM Treaty is the way to protect only one country, while the security of others will decline," Sergeyev said.

"The ABM Treaty is a unique and perfect one, which has laid the foundation for the reduction of strategic offensive armaments. That is why we call it a corner stone of strategic stability," he remarked.

AFP correspondent Michael Adler contributed to this report

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