"How much longer are we going to tolerate small countries being able to stir things up between us that leads to conflict?" Dmitry Rogozin said in an interview with Germany's Sueddeutsche Zeitung daily.

He also called on NATO to put an end to its eastwards expansion and for the United States to "stop telling fairy tales" about the aim of its planned missile defence shield being to intercept missiles fired by Iran.

"That does not mean that we are not concerned that Iran may gain access to weapons of mass destruction," he added, but it is no wonder "that Iran feels so threatened that it feels it has to get hold of top-calibre weaponry."

The planned installation of elements of the defence shield in Poland and the Czech Republic is a source of great tension between Moscow and Washington. Russia's war with Georgia in August also sent sparks flying.

Relations have thawed somewhat with US President Barack Obama's new administration saying it wants to "press the reset button" in its ties with Russia.

Rogozin's comments follow an announcement on Tuesday by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev of a "large-scale" rearmament and renewal of Russia's nuclear arsenal, accusing NATO of pushing ahead with expansion near Russian borders.

Obama may visit Russia in early July, Russian daily newspaper Kommersant reported this week. He is due to meet Medvedev for the first time next month at a G20 summit in London on April 2.

NATO holds its 60th anniversary summit on April 3-4 in the French city of Strasbourg and the German town of Baden-Baden.

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