Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Saturday that the missile defense system the U.S. plans to build in the Czech Republic and Poland could worsen the Iranian nuclear stand-off.

"There must be a freeze on the deployment of missile defense facilities in Europe for the whole period of analysis and negotiations," Lavrov was quoted by the Itar-Tass news agency as saying.

Russia urged the United States to stop creating an anti-ballistic missile defense system in Europe before the two nations could negotiate on the joint use of an Azeri radar system, said Lavrov.

He said that the U.S. missile shield could seriously complicate efforts by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to break the stand-off over Iran's nuclear programme.

Russia's proposal that the United States jointly use a radar in Azerbaijan makes it unnecessary for Washington to build a missile shield in Eastern Europe, he added.

The Russian foreign minister said that Russian President Vladimir Putin and his U.S. counterpart George W. Bush will hold a detailed discussion on the problems related to the missile defense system when Putin visits Bush at Kennebunkport, Maine on July 1-2.

Source: Xinhua