General Nikolai Makarov, the chief of the general staff of the Russian military, told reporters on a visit to Switzerland that only the creation of a joint missile defence system would be acceptable to Moscow.

"We have a negative attitude to everything that concerns missile defence. Either you create missile defence jointly, or..." said Makarov, according to Russian news agencies, leaving his sentence incomplete.

His comments came after the United States last week scrapped its plans for deploying missile defence facilities in the Czech Republic and Poland that had infuriated Russia.

Russia had proposed using radar systems in Gabala in ex-Soviet Azerbaijan and in the southern Russian city of Armavir as part of a joint early warning missile defence system with the United States.

Makarov said that while the possibility of US-Russian cooperation on missile defence existed, there were no concrete talks on a joint system.

Following scrapping of the Eastern Europe missile shield, Russian officials said Moscow would shelve a plan to place Iskander missiles in its exclave of Kaliningrad which borders the European Union.

While not contradicting this, Makarov said no final decision had been taken on the issue. "The decision has not been taken. There has to be a political decision," he said.

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