Putin warns US over missile defense

Russia must develop new offensive weapons to counter US missile defenses and prevent policymakers in Washington from feeling they can "do whatever they want," Vladimir Putin, the country's prime minister, has said The US dropped plans for missile defense bases in the Czech Republic and Poland earlier this year but said it would develop other defensive systems. Putin, who made his remarks during a visit to the Russian Pacific port city of Vladivostok on Tuesday, said the US plans for a missile defense system were also the main obstacle to reaching a new deal on reducing Cold War arsenals of nuclear weapons. The two largest nuclear powers say they are close to agreeing on a successor to the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START I), but have yet to clinch a deal. The START treaty, signed just before the collapse of the Soviet Union, led to deep cuts in the Russian and US nuclear arsenals but expired without a replacement earlier this month.