Russia intends to create anti-missile posts in neighboring countries in response to U.S. plans for a similar base in Eastern Europe.

The development will form part of Russia's military building plans for 2006-2010, Vice-Premier and Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said on Wednesday.

"We know about plans to create an anti-missile post in Poland. These plans very seriously worry us. We take them into consideration in the military building plans for the next five years," Ivanov was quoted by the Itar-Tass news agency as saying.

Ivanov's statement follows reports about the Pentagon's plans to deploy an interceptor missile base in one of the Eastern European countries as part of a missile defense system program.

According to the Arms Control Association, the interested countries are Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic. The base to be opened in Europe by 2011 is to have 10 silo-launched interceptor missiles.

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman told reporters on Monday that the plan was not considered as a measure to counter Russia's missiles. Besides, the base would only be home to a small number of interceptor missiles, he said.

Russia's defense expenditures in 2007 will reach 800 billion roubles (30 billion U.S. dollars), Ivanov said.

"Main attention will be paid to qualitative parameters in the development of armaments and military hardware. We believe that the defense budget will be 20 percent of GDP," Ivanov said.

Source: Xinhua