Speaking at a news conference in southern Russia, President Dmitry Medvedev stated that, despite Washington's denials, the United States had Russia in mind in basing elements of the system in Poland and the Czech Republic.

"The deployment of new missile defence facilities in Europe is aimed against the Russian Federation," Medvedev said at a news conference in the Black Sea coastal city of Sochi following talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

His comments came a day after Poland, after appearing reticent on the plan in recent months, suddenly announced it had reached an accord with the United States on plans to install US interceptor missiles on its territory.

The timing of that announcement, coming amid a burgeoning international crisis over the conflict between Russia and Georgia in the Caucasus, sparked a bellicose response from the Russian military.

In agreeing to host elements of the US system, "Poland is making itself a target" for the Russian military, Interfax news agency quoted General Anatoly Nogovitsyn as saying Friday.

"This is 100 percent" certain, he said, stressing that as a point of military principle such installations "are destroyed as a first priority" in the event of an armed conflict.

The Russian general said separately at a briefing for journalists that the US push to conclude the deal with Poland was causing serious damage to relations with Russia.

"It's a pity that when we are still faced with a most complicated situation to work on, the United States is further aggravating the situation in relations with Russia" with the Poland missile deal, Nogovitsyn said.

The United States has consistently said that the planned missile system is conceived to defend against what Washington terms "rogue states" such as Iran, whose ballistic missile potential is reported to be growing.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has dismissed Russia's concerns that it is the real target of the system as "ludicrous" and said Friday that she looked forward to signing the deal with Poland.

"I hope to go very soon to sign it," Rice told journalists aboard her plane as she travelled to the Georgian capital Tbilisi, where she held emergency talks on the crisis with President Mikheil Saakashvili.

The US plans call for positioning of a powerful tracking radar in the Czech Republic to function in tandem with 10 interceptor missiles based in Poland.

Russia has repeatedly proposed schemes that would give it a role in the system alongside the United States and other partners, including offering the use of a Russian radar facility in ex-Soviet Azerbaijan.

The United States has said it is open to allowing Russia to play a role in the system, but in practice Washington reacted coolly to the Azerbaijan offer and has not encouraged Russian participation.

Analysts say Russia's military incursion over the past week into Georgia was triggered in part by Moscow's frustration at not being able to stop the missile plan and the enlargement of the US-led NATO military alliance.

"Russia was ignored" by the United States for years on a wide range of security issues, Maria Lipman, an analyst with the Carnegie Moscow Center think tank, said this week.

After failing to persuade Washington through rhetoric to heed its interests on these issues, Moscow felt backed into a corner and decided it was time to show that "Russia is strong and Russia has to be reckoned with," she said.

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