Russia 'Could Quit Nuclear Deal' with US

Russia's foreign minister Sergey Lavrov has said his country could opt out of a new nuclear disarmament treaty if it feels threatened by US missile defense plans.

But he said current, short-term US plans, which could include ground-based interceptor missiles in Romania, seemed acceptable to Russia, reports BBC News.

"We have noted that the announced plans proceed from the fact that at the first stages this system will not have strategic characteristics," Lavrov said of current US plans.

But he also mentioned that Russia would have to "see what will happen next."

"Russia will have the right to abandon the Start treaty if a quantitative and qualitative build-up of the US strategic anti-missile potential begins to significantly affect the efficiency of Russia's strategic forces," he said.

Russia and the US are due to sign a deal to reduce their nuclear stockpiles in Prague on April 7.

Lavrov said the treaty marked a "new level of trust" between the two states.

The treaty succeeds the 1991 Start treaty on nuclear disarmament, which expired in December last year. It restricts both Russia and the US to 1,550 warheads, about 30% less than currently allowed.

The treaty, which was agreed last month, was delayed by Moscow's concerns over US missile shield plans.

US President Barack Obama scrapped a previous plan for a missile shield based in Poland and the Czech Republic that had angered Russia.