"If the practice of preventive strikes should de facto become widespread and grow stronger, Russia reserves the right to such a practice," Putin said on the second day of a two-day summit in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.

"We are against this, but we retain the right to carry out preventive strikes," he said, as quoted by the Interfax news agency.

Putin stressed that Russian missiles were not on combat status but have been mothballed.

"This situation will continue for decades till the middle of the 21st century. Meanwhile we will work on perfecting our defence systems, including with the United States, and are already holding such talks," he said.

Last week Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov told a gathering of senior officers that Moscow retained the right to stage preemptive strikes against other countries under certain circumstances.

"We cannot absolutely rule out the preemptive use of force if this is dictated by Russia's interests or its commitments to allies," he said.

Although his words were merely a restatement of Russia's long-standing defence doctrine, it struck a jarring note as it came just days after Putin and his US counterpart George W. Bush reaffirmed their personal friendship at a Camp David summit.

Russia, which along with Germany and France has formed the basis of a "peace camp" that opposed the US-led war in Iraq, has contested the US doctrine announced by the Bush administration in September 2002 that it was willing to take preemptive action against hostile states and terrorist groups considered a threat to global stability or US interests.

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