March 13, 2008	Thursday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 4, 1429

MOSCOW, March 12: Nato urged Russia on Wednesday to tone down its “fiery rhetoric” after repeated Moscow attacks on the growing influence of the military alliance and US plans to base parts of a missile shield in Europe.

“We have seen too much rhetoric at too high a level... we would like to see it dialled down,” Nato spokesman James Appathurai told the Russian press in a video-conference, speaking from Brussels.

“Fiery rhetoric does make the headlines and there has been a little too much of it,” he said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday accused Nato of aiming to replace the United Nations and warned this raised the potential for conflict.

“You get the impression that attempts are being made to set up an organisation that would substitute for the UN,” he said after talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Relations between Russia and the western military alliance have deteriorated in recent years amid a Nato expansion drive, US plans to install anti-missile defences in central Europe and Moscow’s suspension of a key arms pact.

Washington’s anti-missile shield plans have particularly angered Russia, which sees them as a threat to its security.

In an interview published Monday, Russia’s envoy to Nato issued a new warning against ex-Soviet countries Georgia and Ukraine joining the western alliance.—AFP