MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Washington's decision to quit the 1972 ABM missile treaty was a mistake but signaled he wanted to keep Moscow's warming relations with Washington on track.
In his first comments on the confirmation by President Bush that the United States would pull out of the accord in six months, Putin said in an address to the nation that the long-heralded move posed no threat to Russian security.
``The U.S. leadership spoke of this several times and such a step is not unexpected for us. However we think such a step is mistaken,'' a somber Putin said on state-run RTR television.
Russia had long possessed the means to overcome missile defenses, he said. ``Therefore I fully believe that the decision taken by the President of the United States does not pose a threat to the national security of the Russian Federation.''
And he signaled an intent to avoid making a drama out of a crisis, saying: ``The present level of bilateral cooperation between Russia and the United States should not only be preserved but also used for quickly working out new frameworks of strategic cooperation.''
He made clear that Moscow was determined to press ahead with deep cuts in strategic nuclear warheads but emphasized they had to be codified in legally binding documents.
Putin said the cuts Russia was seeking were down to a range of 1,500 to 2,200 on each side. This is close to the figures of 1,700 to 2,200 that Bush flagged at the Crawford summit in November.
The Russian leader later spoke to Jiang Zemin, leader of fellow nuclear power China, agreeing on the need for stability.
In western Europe, nuclear powers Britain and France were cautious in their responses to Bush's move.
But a senior diplomatic source in the European Union criticized ``unilateralist'' tendencies and said the ABM move dented EU hopes for a more consensual approach to diplomacy from Washington after the September 11 attacks on the United States.