Medvedev sees arms race if missile shield not agreed

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has said a new arms race could begin in the next decade if Nato and Moscow fail to agree on a joint missile shield.

In his annual speech to the nation, he said he had advocated a "fully fledged joint mechanism of co-operation" at a recent Nato-Russia summit.

On domestic issues, Mr Medvedev argued for families of three children or more to stem Russia's population decline.

Confounding expectations, he did not talk about his own political future.

With less than two years to the next presidential ballot, many believe his powerful predecessor, Vladimir Putin, will seek to return to the Kremlin in his place.

Mr Putin, who was among the audience for the speech, has been serving as prime minister since leaving office in 2008.

Just a few days before the speech, in his video blog, Mr Medvedev warned Russia was in danger of "political stagnation" if it did not create a more level playing field for opposition parties.

Analysts have been wondering if this was a deliberate criticism of the political system largely built by Mr Putin while president.

'Combined potentials'
After the Nato-Russia summit in Lisbon earlier this month, Nato chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen announced that Russia had agreed to co-operate on Nato's programme to defend against ballistic missile attacks.

"For the first time the two sides will be co-operating to defend themselves," he said.

On Tuesday, President Medvedev said a joint shield would combine "the potentials of Russia and Nato and ensure the protection of all European countries from missile threats".

"I would like to say openly in this hall that over the next decade we are facing the following alternative: either we reach an agreement on missile defence and create a fully fledged joint mechanism of co-operation or, if we fail to reach a constructive agreement, a new round of the arms race will start and we shall have to take decisions on the deployment of new strike equipment," he said.

"It is quite obvious that this scenario would be very difficult."

Experts say Russia wants to be fully integrated in any missile shield, not on the margins, the BBC's Richard Galpin reports from Moscow.

The question is how far Nato is prepared to share information and command and control systems, our correspondent notes.