Ivachov, who heads the international cooperation department of the Russian Defence Ministry, told the Wednesday edition of the armed forces daily Krasnaia Zvezda that the United States "does not have a scrupulous respect for the START-1 agreement."

He also accused Washington of violating the principles of the ABM treaty which governs anti-ballistic missiles.

Russia has refused to modify the ABM treaty, rejecting requests by Washington to allow the United States to deploy anti-missile defences in response to possible threats from rogue nuclear states.

Caption: Russian General-Colonel Leonid Ivashov opens the door to the Russian Foreign Ministry to take part in negotiations between US Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott and Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov in Moscow, Sunday 13 June 1999 on Moscow's role in a Kosovo peace force. - Photo Copyright AFP

Russia would respond to a national US anti-missile system by increasing its own armaments its Deputy Defence Minister, Nikloai Mikhailov insisted Monday.

Moscow is about to revise its military budget and to increase by half its weapons orders in 2000, in order to deal with the conflict in Chechnya, Itar-Tass also quoted the Russian Deputy Prime Minister, Ilia Klebanov, as saying Wednesday. Russia needed more up-to-date weapons to confront "current issues," he said.

North Korea Continues Missile Build Up
Meanwhile, North Korea is continuing to build missile bases and has deployed more of the weapons despite its pledge to halt ballistic missile tests, say press reports in Seoul.

Six new short-range missile bases are under construction in North Korea and four new medium-range missile batteries have been deployed, the South Korean news agency Yonhap said on Tuesday.

Yonhap said the North Korean moves followed its landmark accord in September with the United States on suspending new long-range missile tests to secure a partial lifting of US sanctions.

North Korea is building bases at six different places for Scud-C missiles with a range of 500-550 kilometers (313-344 miles), it said, quoting government sources.

The Yonhap report came one day after South Korea's largest daily, Chosun Ilbo, disclosed the North's deployment of four new batteries of Rodong-1 missiles, which have a range of 1,300 kilometers (810 miles).

The South Korean defense ministry has neither confirmed nor denied the reports for security reasons.

Military officials, however, warned that Scud-C missiles, modified from Scuds imported from the former Soviet Union, could hit anywhere in South Korea while the Rodong-1 can reach Japan.

Three of the new Scud-C bases are in the western province of Hwanghae, one is in the southeastern province of Kangwon and two are in the northern province of Chagang, Yonhap said.

The missile bases in Hwanghae and Kangwon are close to the border, from which South Korea's capital is only 56 kilometers (35 miles) away.

One base in Hwanghae is believed to have already deployed three missile batteries with some 40 Scud-Cs, Yonhap said, while underground launching pads and tunnels were being built at five other bases.

Meanwhile, the Chosun daily said North Korea had deployed a Taepodong-1 battery at Sinori, north of the capital Pyongyag, and three others at Tugol near the western border with South Korea.

Each Taepodong-1 battery has nine launchers, Chosun said.

South Korean officials suspect North Korea has already developed more advanced Taepodong-2 missiles with a range of 4,000 kilometers (2,500 miles) which can hit parts of the United States such as Alaska and Hawaii.

North Korea stunned its neighbors in August of last year by test-firing a Taepodong missile over Japan.

But in negotiations with Washington, the famine-hit country agreed in September to suspend new test plans.

In return, US President Bill Clinton eased decades-long economic sanctions against the communist state, allowing US trade in commercial goods, except for military parts.

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