KUBINKA, Russia President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that Russia was concerned about an anti-missile defense system near its borders, after announcing that Russia would add more than 40 intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) to its nuclear arsenal this year. 
 
 "We will be forced to aim our armed forces ... at those territories from where the threat comes," Putin said. 
 
 Putin made his comments a day after Russian officials denounced a U.S. plan to station tanks and heavy weapons in NATO member states on Russia's border. Putin said it was the most aggressive act by Washington since the Cold War a generation ago. 
 
 U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry expressed concern over Putin's missile announcement and said no one wanted to see backsliding "to a kind of a Cold War status." 
 
 Kerry told reporters at a news briefing that Putin's stance could be posturing but he added, "Nobody should hear that kind of announcement from a leader of a powerful country and not be concerned about what the implications are." 
 
 Tension has flared anew between Russia and Western powers over Moscow's role in the Ukraine crisis, in which pro-Russian separatist forces have seized a large part of the country's east after Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in early 2014. 
 
 The European Union and United States imposed economic sanctions on Russia. But Washington and Moscow are still bound by a 2010 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) that caps deployed strategic nuclear warheads at 1,550 each and limits the numbers of strategic nuclear missile launchers to 800 by 2018. 
 
 "More than 40 new intercontinental ballistic missiles able to overcome even the most technically advanced anti-missile defense systems will be added to the make-up of the nuclear arsenal this year," Putin, flanked by army officers, said in a speech at an arms fair west of Moscow. 
 
 ICBMs have a minimum range of more than 5,500 km (3,400 miles). Putin gave no more details of which missiles were being added to the nuclear arsenal. 
 
 Putin said later on Tuesday that Russia wanted Ukraine to repay the $3 billion bailout bond under former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych according to an agreed repayment schedule. 
 
 Putin said he thought the Minsk peace deal on Ukraine was balanced and fair and that if Russia did not agree with its contents it would not have signed it. 
 
 "SABER RATTLING"? 
 
 Putin has repeatedly urged Russia to maintain its nuclear deterrence to counter what he sees as growing security threats. Moscow also reserves the right to deploy nuclear arms in Crimea. 
 
 Such comments have helped whip up anti-Western sentiment and rally support behind Putin but have caused disquiet in the West, particularly countries on or near Russia's borders that were under Soviet domination during the Cold War. 
 
 Responding quickly to Putin's remarks, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg accused Russia of unwarranted "saber rattling" and said this was "destabilizing and dangerous". 
 
 At a news briefing in Brussels, Stoltenberg said such rhetoric from Moscow explained the Western alliance's increased preparedness on the part of its forces to defend its member states closest to Russia. 
 
 "This nuclear sabre-rattling of Russia is unjustified. This is something we are addressing, and it’s also one of the reasons we are now increasing the readiness and preparedness of our forces," Stoltenberg said. 
 
 "We are responding by making sure that NATO also in the future is an alliance which provides deterrence and protection for all allies against any threat." 
 
 FEARS OF A NEW ARMS RACE 
 
 Lithuanian Defence Minister Juozas Olekas said the planned deployment of U.S. military equipment in eastern Europe, including his country, was a key step to ensure the region's defensibility against growing Russian military capabilities. 
 
 "We have no other possibilities. If we did nothing, we would be provoking Russia for aggression, like it was in... Ukraine," Olekas told Reuters. 
 
 Russian officials warned on Monday that Moscow would retaliate if the United States carried out its plan to store heavy military equipment in eastern Europe, including in the Baltic states that were once in the Soviet Union. 
 
 "The feeling is that our colleagues from NATO countries are pushing us into an arms race," RIA news agency quoted Deputy Defence Minister Anatoly Antonov as saying during "Army 2015", a fair at which arms and other military equipment are on show. 
 
 U.S. Army Colonel Steve Warren said the United States was "simply prepositioning equipment that we can ... have there so we can more easily and more rapidly conduct our training exercises." 
 
 "The equipment that we are moving into Europe is training equipment, it's not nuclear missiles. You know there's quite a difference there," Warren told reporters at the Pentagon. Asked if the United States had explained that to the Russians, he said, "Yes." 
 
 Putin has said Moscow will not be drawn into a new arms race although Russia is modernizing its armed forces. Putin said in his speech that 70 percent of the military equipment in use would by 2020 be the most up-to-date and top-quality. 
 
 Putin had said last year that Russia would add more than 50 intercontinental ballistic missiles in 2015. 
 
 As of April, Russia had 515 deployed launchers so the addition of 40 or 50 more would leave it well below the START treaty limit, said Kingston Reif of the Arms Control Association think tank in Washington. 
 
 Military expert Ivan Konovalov, head of the Moscow-based Center for Strategic Trends Studies, said Russia is now replacing outdated ICBMs that had been serviced and co-produced by Ukraine, also a former Soviet republic. 
 
 No such cooperation is taking place anymore and Moscow is putting in place other types of ICBMs it produces on its own. 
 
 The fair that opened on Tuesday to exhibit more than 330 units of Russian arms and military equipment was the latest example of Moscow showcasing its modernized armed forces. 
 
 But lavish military spending is burdening Russia's national budget at a time when the economy is sliding towards recession, hammered by low oil prices and Western sanctions. 
 
 The Kremlin portrays spending on the Russian arms sector as a driver of economic growth, but Putin's critics say it is excessive and comes at the expense of social needs. 
 
 (Additional reporting by Gabriela Baczynska in Moscow and Andrius Sytas in Vilnius; Writing by Gabriela Baczynska Editing by Timothy Heritage, Mark Heinrich, Toni Reinhold) ||||| Image copyright AP 
 
 President Vladimir Putin has said Russia will put more than 40 new intercontinental ballistic missiles into service this year. 
 
 It is part of a wide-reaching programme to modernise the country's military. 
 
 The move comes after the US proposed increasing its military presence in Nato states in Eastern Europe. 
 
 Nato has condemned the Russian announcement, saying the move amounted to "nuclear sabre-rattling" and was "unjustified" and "dangerous". 
 
 Tensions are high over Russia's role in the conflict in eastern Ukraine. 
 
 Speaking at an arms fair, Mr Putin said the weapons would be able to overcome even the most technically advanced anti-missile defence systems. 
 
 Nato and Western leaders accuse Russia of sending soldiers and heavy weapons, including tanks and missiles, to the pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine. Russia has repeatedly denied this, insisting that any Russians fighting there are "volunteers". 
 
 Later on Tuesday, Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said that the statement from Mr Putin was "confirming the pattern and behaviour of Russia over a period of time; we have seen Russia is investing more in defence in general and in its nuclear capability in particular". 
 
 He said: "This nuclear sabre-rattling of Russia is unjustified, it's destabilising and it's dangerous." 
 
 He added that "what Nato now does in the eastern part of the alliance is something that is proportionate, that is defensive and that is fully in line with our international commitments." 
 
 Image copyright Reuters 
 
 Russia nuclear arsenal 
 
 Military stockpile of approximately 4,500 nuclear warheads 
 
 These include nearly 1,800 strategic warheads deployed on missiles and at bomber bases 
 
 Another 700 strategic warheads are in storage along with roughly 2,700 non-strategic warheads 
 
 A large number - perhaps 3,500 - of retired, but still largely intact warheads await dismantlement 
 
 All numbers are approximate estimates 
 
 Source: Federation of American Scientists 
 
 Image copyright Reuters Image caption Russia is in the process of modernising its military 
 
 'Arms race' 
 
 Russia has increased its defence spending substantially under Vladimir Putin, and is in the midst of a massive modernisation programme, says the BBC's Sarah Rainsford in Moscow. 
 
 The missiles are hi-tech replacements, not additions to Russia's nuclear arsenal, but the nod to the US is clear, our correspondent says. 
 
 Russian officials have warned that Moscow will respond if the US carries out its plan to store heavy military equipment in Eastern Europe, including in the Baltic states that were once part of the Soviet Union. 
 
 "The feeling is that our colleagues from Nato countries are pushing us into an arms race," RIA news agency quoted Russian Deputy Defence Minister Anatoly Antonov as saying on the sidelines of the arms fair outside Moscow. 
 
 Analysis - Jonathan Marcus, BBC News defence and diplomatic correspondent 
 
 Amidst the rising tensions with the West, Russian President Vladimir Putin has placed a renewed emphasis upon his country's nuclear arsenal. 
 
 This is in part a reflection of Russia's continuing conventional military weakness. Moscow is in the midst of a significant modernisation of its strategic nuclear weapons with new ballistic missiles being deployed, more modern bombers, and new submarines being launched. 
 
 Over recent years, older, obsolete weapons have been withdrawn from service, so the size of Russia's overall arsenal has been shrinking. 
 
 However, this decline could soon come to an end, raising all sorts of questions for other nuclear powers. 
 
 What most alarms the West is the renewed emphasis in Russian rhetoric on nuclear rather than conventional forces. 
 
 Threats to deploy short-range nuclear weapons in Crimea have been accompanied by veiled warnings of nuclear targeting against Nato members who might host ballistic missile defences.
– Vladimir Putin is being accused of "sabre-rattling," which isn't all that unusual, except in this case it involves nuclear weapons. The Russian leader said today that Moscow would add at least 40 ICBMs to its nuclear arsenal this year, reports Reuters. The announcement comes after the US said it planned to station tanks and heavy weaponry in NATO states in Eastern Europe on the Russian border. Putin boasted that the new ICBMs would be able to overcome the most advanced defense systems, reports the BBC. "This nuclear sabre-rattling of Russia is unjustified, it's destabilizing, and it's dangerous," says NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg. He says Russia's increasing aggressions, especially in Ukraine, explain why NATO is beefing up its Eastern European defenses. But Russian deputy defense chief Anatoly Antonov, citing the US plan, says "our colleagues from NATO countries are pushing us into an arms race."