Russia will not be drawn into new arms race - Medvedev

      MOSCOW, July 15 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's president set out new foreign policy guidelines on Tuesday, stating that the country would resist being pulled into a new arms race and criticizing NATO's ongoing expansion, the Kremlin said.

      Speaking to senior Russian diplomats at the Foreign Ministry, Dmitry Medvedev said a new arms race would be harmful to Russia's economy and development.

      Medvedev said "the danger of a large-scale war, including a nuclear war, being unleashed has been reduced considerably," and that the world had largely overcome Cold War stereotypes and ideological confrontation.

      He said Russia was opposed to both the deployment of weapons in outer space and unilateral missile defense projects, and proposed establishing a joint system to respond to possible missile strikes.

      This statement was an apparent reference to U.S. plans to put weapons in space and deploy elements of its missile defense shield in Central Europe.

      Moscow has repeatedly said that U.S. missile shield plans would undermine global stability and trigger an arms race.

      U.S. officials have argued the measures are needed to provide protection from possible missile attacks from 'rogue' nations such as Iran.

      Medvedev proposed talks with other nuclear powers on cutting strategic offensive weapons to a minimum sufficient to maintain strategic stability.

      The president also said that military-political blocs were unable to address modern challenges and threats and proposed a broader "network diplomacy" to tackle them.

      The U.S. missile plans, coupled with NATO's expansion toward Russian borders prompted Moscow to temporarily withdraw from the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) treaty, a crucial arms control arrangement, in mid-December 2007.

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