Don’t interfere,Putin warns US

Putin said Gates was “deeply misled”. Putin also warned that Russia would develop and deploy new nuclear weapons if the US does not accept its proposals on integrating Russian and European missile defence forces — amplifying on a comment made by President Dmitri A Medvedev in his annual state of the nation address on Tuesday.

“We’ve just put forward a proposal showing how all of us,tackling the shared problem of security,could share responsibility between ourselves,” he said,according to excerpts released by CNN. “But if our proposals will be met with negative answers,and if additional threats are built on our borders,Russia will have to ensure her own security through different means,” including “new nuclear missile technologies.” Putin said Moscow would like to avoid this scenario.

Last month,during a NATO-Russia summit meeting in Lisbon,the delegations discussed President Obama’s invitation for Russia to take some role in the future missile shield,perhaps through linkage between Russian facilities and the European shield.

Russian leaders have been restrained in their response to the WikiLeaks cables. The comments attributed to Gates,contained in a cable dated February 8,2010,used the harshest language so far.

Putin said several US presidents had been elected through the electoral college system even though they did not win a majority of the popular vote,but that Russia does not press the point. “When we are talking with our US friends and tell them there are systemic problems” with the electoral college system,“we hear from them,‘Don’t interfere with our affairs,this is our tradition and it’s going to continue like that.’ “I would also like to advise you not to interfere with the sovereign choice of Russian people,” he said.

Putin also slammed the “rude” characterisation of his working relationship with President Dmitry Medvedev. Dubbing the pair “Batman and Robin” — with Putin earmarked as the dark knight to junior partner Medvedev — irked the politician. “It is intended to slander one of us,” Putin said. “The truth is that this is about our interaction,which is an important factor of domestic politics…But to be honest,we did not suspect that this would be expressed so arrogantly,with such rudeness.”