Russia will adjust its foreign policy in response to the approach of NATO's military infrastructure toward its borders and U.S. plans to deploy missile defense systems in eastern Europe, a high-ranking official said yesterday.

"Naturally, we cannot ignore these issues in our foreign political planning, including their possible implications for Russia's national security and our relations with NATO and the United States," Alexander Kramarenko, director of the Foreign Ministry's external policy planning department, told the Interfax news agency.

In line with a presidential instruction, the ministry has carried out a review of the country's foreign policy, which provided the chance for "developing well-based proposals on adjusting our policy in certain areas," he said.

These recommendations took into account the entire range of international and regional problems facing Russia in its foreign relations, including "the approach of NATO's military infrastructure toward Russian borders and U.S. intentions to reconfigure its military presence in Europe," he said.

The U.S. State Department has announced that the Czech Republic and Poland had agreed to start detailed discussions with Washington on hosting part of a U.S.-built shield against ballistic missiles.

The United States wants to deploy a missile defense radar in the Czech Republic and interceptor missiles in Poland.

The plans have met with criticism in Russia.

Kramarenko said Russia's willingness to develop ties with NATO depends on its readiness to consider Russian security interests and its ability to stabilize the situation in Afghanistan.

"Our attitude to NATO depends on how the alliance considers Russian security interests, how efficiently it stabilizes the situation in Afghanistan and how it counters the drug and terrorist threats emanating from that country in practice, not in theory," he said.