Russia did not seek to limit the development of U.S. air defenses while drawing up a strategic arms cuts treaty, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Tuesday.

"There are no such limitations in this treaty," he told reporters.

On Tuesday, members of the Russian parliament's lower house, the State Duma, discuss the ratification of the new Russian-U.S. treaty on the reduction of strategic offensive weapons. The two countries signed the treaty, which would replace the expired START 1 treaty, in Prague on April 8.

The document was submitted to the U.S. Senate for ratification on May 13 and to the State Duma on May 28. The Russian and U.S. presidents, Dmitry Medvedev and Barack Obama, have agreed that the ratification processes should be simultaneous.

Russia has reserved the right to withdraw from the pact if a quantitative and qualitative increase in U.S. strategic missile defense significantly harms the effectiveness of Russia's strategic nuclear forces.

"Regardless of whether the treaty is ratified or not, this [U.S.] administration is prone to act towards the realization of a so-called adaptive approach to the creation of the global air defense system, which stipulates four stages," Ryabkov said.

"One of these stages stipulates the creation of interceptor missiles bases in Romania and Poland and the deployment of mobile radars in eastern Europe. The next stage stipulates the enlargement of [military] potential in this sphere and the purchase of interceptor missiles of various modifications," he said.

Although Obama scrapped last September earlier plans to deploy missile defense elements in the Czech Republic and Poland, Washington has not given up on its European missile shield initiative.

In May, the United States opened a temporary military base in northern Poland, just 80 km (50 miles) from the border of Russia's Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad, in accordance with an agreement negotiated under former President George Bush in 2008 - a move which drew much criticism from Russia.

The United States is also in talks with Bulgaria and Romania on deploying elements of the U.S. missile shield on their territories from 2015.

Alexei Arbatov, who heads the International Security Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said on Tuesday Russia had at least 10,000 nuclear warheads.

The U.S. stockpile contains a total of 5,113 nuclear warheads, according to data unveiled by the U.S. Department of Defense in early May.

The new Russian-U.S. arms cuts pact stipulates that the number of nuclear warheads is to be reduced to 1,550 on each side, while the number of deployed and non-deployed delivery vehicles must not exceed 800 on each side.

MOSCOW, July 6 (RIA Novosti)