Obama aide admits missile shield should worry Russia

A senior advisor to U.S. President Barack Obama says some of Russia's concerns over a proposed missile defence shield in Eastern Europe are “legitimate”.

Gary Samore, the U.S. coordinator for Weapons of Mass Destruction Policy, said that missile defence becomes more strategically important as weapons agreements to reduce numbers of nuclear warheads come into effect.

Moscow strongly opposes U.S. and NATO plans for an anti-missile system based in Poland and The Czech republic.

The Bush administration maintained that the AMD project is aimed at so-called ‘rogue states’ such as Iran and North Korea, not Russia.