The deployment by the Kremlin of tactical nuclear weapons to protect against a planned U.S.-led missile shield in Europe would be to squander funds that could be used to improve living standards in Russia, NATO General Secretary Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Monday, March 26, RIA Novosti reported.

“I have to say that it would be a complete waste of money to deploy offensive weapons against an artificial enemy – an enemy that doesn’t exist in the real world,” Rasmussen said in a video link-up from NATO headquarters in Brussels. “This money would be much better spent on economic and social development.”

Rasmussen’s comments come less than a week after outgoing Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Moscow was preparing a host of countermeasures to tackle NATO missile defense, including forward deployments of tactical nuclear missiles in its Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad.

Medvedev also said that time was “running out” for talks on the shield, which Russia sees a threat to its national security. The United States says the shield is designed to protect against “rogue states” such as Iran and North Korea.

Negotiations between Russia and NATO member states on the U.S.-led missile defense project have deadlocked over the West's reluctance to give Moscow legally–binding guarantees that the shield will not be used against it.

But Rasmussen reiterated on Monday NATO pledges that the system was not intended for use against its Cold War-era adversary.

“The anti-missile shield is not directed against Russia, nor designed to attack Russia or undermine what Russia calls its strategic deterrent,” Rasmussen said.