Putin Blames Washington for New 'Arms Race'(2/2)

"I would hope that rather than continuing to worry about something that seems to us in fact just not at all possible, which is that, given the size of the Russian nuclear deterrent, that somehow this system is going to threaten the Russian nuclear deterrent, I would note that President Putin said just yesterday that Russia's ballistic missiles can overwhelm, penetrate, destroy any shield that we might build. We quite agree."

The escalation in rhetoric" class="hjdict" word="rhetoric" target=_blank>rhetoric comes days before President Putin is due to meet President Bush at the annual G-8 summit of leading industrialized nations in Germany. The White House has announced that the two presidents will hold a special summit in the United States in early July.

The missile debate is just one issue in an increasinglytenserelationship between the former adversaries.

The U.S. and Russia disagree over how to deal with Iran's nuclear program and the state of democratic reforms and human rights in Russia.

In remarks Thursday, White House spokesman Tony Snow took a more positive view of the U.S.-Russian relationship and dismissed the possibility that the U.S. missile plan will revive" class="hjdict" word="revive" target=_blank>revive the cold war.