KUBINKA: President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that Russia was concerned about an anti-missile defence system near its borders, after announcing that Russia would add more than 40 intercontinental ballistic missiles 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 US 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.

US Secretary of State John Kerry expressed concern about 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.”

“More than 40 new intercontinental ballistic missiles able to overcome even the most technically advanced anti-missile defence 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.

Responding quickly to Putin’s remarks, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg accused Russia of unwarranted “sabre rattling” and said this was “destabilising 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.