The possible deployment of a U.S. missile defense facility in the Caucasus will affect friendly relations between Russia and the regional states, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin said on Friday.

The director of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, Lieutenant General Henry Obering said in Brussels on March 1 that Washington wanted to base an anti-missile radar in the Caucasus.

"This statement is another proof that the American side will continue to enlarge its missile defense potential, which will increasingly concern the Russian security," Kamynin was quoted by the Itar-Tass news agency as saying.

"Russia has repeatedly expressed concern about the U.S. missile defense plans," Kamynin said.

"We think that the scale of U.S. preparations is inadequate to the declared missile threat. The U.S. intention to deploy missile defense components, which will become strategic military facilities, in the direct proximity to Russian borders is the source of special concern. We will have to bear in mind the prospective facilities in further Russian military-political steps and military planning."

"Such plans contradict NATO commitment to restrain the deployment of forces, which was made in the Russia-NATO Founding Act," he said.

"We still think that the U.S. missile defense preparations are erroneous and do not serve the purpose of strategic stability and international security," Kamynin said.

Source: Xinhua