Russia will stop developing some strategic weapons if the United States drops plans for a missile shield in Europe, Interfax news agency quoted the commander of Russia's strategic missile forces as saying Friday.
"If Americans give up plans to deploy the third positioning region and other elements of the strategic missile defense system then certainly we will adequately respond to it," said Col.-Gen. Nikolai Solovtsov.
"We will simply not need a number of expensive programs," he added.
Solovtsov's statement on Friday was the latest expression of the Kremlin's hope that Barack Obama's administration may reverse the plan to build missile defense sites in Poland and the Czech Republic.
Russia has fiercely opposed the plan and promised to deploy missiles next to Poland if the United States goes ahead with the plan.
