Rice deplores Russian comment on missile shield

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has rejected criticism of the US plans to build a missile shield in Central Europe and described hostile Russian comment as "extremely unfortunate". Dr Rice was reacting to remarks by General Nikolai Solovtsov, commander of Russia's strategic forces, who said on Monday that if Poland and the Czech Republic accepted parts of the US system on their territories Russian missile forces would be "capable of having these installations as their targets". Speaking in Berlin on Wednesday, Dr Rice said that the planned missile defence system in Poland and the Czech Republic was designed to counter a threat from Iran.