Vladimir Putin threatened to abandon a key nuclear arms treaty yesterday as he raised the stakes in the confrontation between Russia and the United States over a missile defence shield in Eastern Europe.

The Russian President threw down the gauntlet at a meeting with Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State, and Robert Gates, the Defence Secretary. They came prepared for criticism of the US proposal but instead Mr Putin gave a blunt warning that he would scrap the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty.

The 1987 treaty between the US and Soviet Union helped to end the Cold War by eliminating medium-range nuclear and conventional missiles. It removed Soviet SS20 and US cruise missiles from Europe that were the focus of mass protests in the 1980s.

Dr Rice and Mr Gates appeared taken aback by Mr Putin’s comments, made after he had kept them waiting for 40 minutes at his presidential dacha outside Moscow.

“We will try to find ways to co-operate,” Dr Rice said, frowning at Mr Putin as he spoke.

Mr Putin said that Russia would leave the INF treaty unless it was turned into a global agreement to constrain other states, including those “located in our near vicinity”. He did not identify any country but Iran and North Korea are within the range covered by the treaty.

Dmitri Peskov, a Kremlin spokesman, later acknowledged that China, India and Pakistan had medium-range missile capabilities. He insisted that Mr Putin was concerned about an imbalance of regional security rather than any specific threat.

Russia saw no risk from Iran “currently or in the immediate future”. But it was prevented by the treaty from having medium-range missiles, while neighbouring states were free to develop them.

The President mocked the US plan to install a radar station in the Czech Republic and ten interceptor missiles in Poland for the defence shield. He said: “We may decide some day to put missile defence systems on the Moon but before we get to that we may lose a chance for agreement because of you implementing your own plans.”

The American officials failed to achieve a breakthrough later in talks with their Russian counterparts, Sergei Lavrov and Anatoly Serdyukov. Dr Rice rejected a Russian demand to freeze the missile project, saying that the US would continue negotiations with its partners.

Mr Serdyukov said that the shield had “strong anti-Russian potential”, and Mr Lavrov said that Russia would “take measures to neutralise that threat”. Mr Gates insisted that it posed no danger to Russia.

The Kremlin has become increasingly strident in its opposition to the missile shield, which it regards as a threat to national security and an attempt by the US to tip the balance of nuclear deterrence in its favour. Dr Rice has dismissed that fear as “ludicrous”. Russia repeated its offer to share its radar station at Gabala in Azerbaijan, close to the Iranian border, in place of one in the Czech Republic. Mr Gates said Gabala was not a substitute for the Czech facility.

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