MAFRA, Portugal - President Vladimir Putin on Friday evoked one of the most dangerous confrontations of the Cold War to highlight Russian opposition to a proposed U.S. missile defense system in Europe, comparing it with the Cuban missile crisis of 45 years ago.
Putin used a news conference at the conclusion of a summit between Russia and the European Union to reiterate Moscow's opposition to U.S. plans to put elements of a missile defense system in the former Soviet bloc countries of Poland and the Czech Republic - both of which are now NATO members.
"Analogous actions by the Soviet Union, when it deployed missiles in Cuba, prompted the 'Caribbean crisis,"' Putin said, using the Russian term for the Cuban missile crisis.
"For us the situation is technologically very similar. We have withdrawn the remains of our bases from Vietnam, from Cuba, and have liquidated everything there, while at our borders, such threats against our country arebeing created," he said.
The October 1962 crisis began when President Kennedy demanded that Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev remove his country's nuclear missiles from Cuba because they could have been used to launch a closerange attack on the United States. The Americans imposed a naval blockade on Cuba, and the world teetered on the edge of war before the Soviets backed down.
Putin also suggested that thetension was much lower than in 1962 because the United States and Russia are now "partners," not Cold War enemies. His relationship with President Bush, Putin said, helps solve problems, calling him a "personal friend."
The Russian leader said there has been no concrete U.S. response to his counterproposals for cooperation on missile defense, but added that the United States is now listening to Russia's concerns about its plans and seeking to address them.
In Washington, White House press secretary Dana Perino underscored those remarks rather than the Cuban missile crisis analogy, saying "there's no way you could walk away without thinking that he thinks that we can work together."
The U.S. plan is part of a wider missile shield involving defenses in California and Alaska that the United States says are to defend against any long-range missile attack from countries such as North Korea or Iran.
Russia opposes the idea, saying Iran is decades away from developing missile technology that could threaten Europe or North America, and it says the U.S. bases are aimed at spying on Russian facilities and undermining Russia's missile deterrent force.
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters there were "clear historical differences between our plans to deploy a defensive missile system designed to protect against launch of missiles from rogue states, such as Iran, and the offensive nucleartipped capability of the missiles that were being installed in Cuba back in the 1960s."
"I don't think that they arehistorically analogous in any way, shape or form," he said.
Turning to his future, Putin said he would not assume presidential powers if he became prime minister after finishing his term next May.
Putin is barred from seeking a third consecutive term in the March 2008 presidential election. But he suggested this month that he could become prime minister, leading to speculation that the substantial powers now invested in the presidency might be transferred to the prime minister.
"If someone thinks that I intend to move, let's say, into the government of the Russian Federation and transfer the fundamental powers there, that's notthe case," Putin said. "There will be no infringement on the powers of the president of the Russian Federation, at least while it depends on me."
After repeating his insistence that he does not intend to change the constitution in order to run for a third term, Putin said he had not yet decided where and in what capacity he would work as former president.
Putin traveled to Portugal, which holds the EU's rotating presidency, for talks with leaders of the 27-nation bloc. But despite a positive spin put on the meeting by Putin and EU President Jose Manuel Barroso - who called it "open, frank and productive" - the summit yielded no major breakthroughs.
The EU and Russia have been without a new cooperation agreement for more than a year, during which time doubts have grown in many European capitals about the reliability of Russia's energy supplies and trade policies toward EU member nations, such as Poland.
Information for this article was contributed by Barry Hatton of The Associated Press.
Front Section, Pages 6 on 10/27/2007