WASHINGTON, June 14 (Xinhua)-- A senior Russian official on Thursday reiterated Moscow's call for United States to freeze development of its planned missile shield in eastern Europe.

    Visiting Dmitry Peskov, deputy spokesman for the Russian government, said the proposal by Russian President Vladimir Putin to use jointly a radar station that Russia controls in Azerbaijan was a substitute for rather than an addition to the U.S plan of missile shield in east Europe.

    "We would appreciate it if the whole process in eastern Europe is frozen until we have a full understanding whether the (Russian)initiative is accepted or not," Peskov was quoted as saying by local press.

    Russia said Saturday that the United States should freeze its missile defense talks with the Czech Republic and Poland pending examination of an alternative Russian proposal on using an Azerbaijani radar site.

    Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the United States should take time to study a proposal by Putin made at the G8 summit to use an alternative radar station in ex-Soviet republic Azerbaijan.

    "It's necessary to freeze the deployment of missile defense systems in Europe for a period of study and analysis and also negotiations on this issue," Lavrov said.

    Reiterating Russia's stand on the issue, Peskov warned if Washington goes ahead with its planned missile shield, it would break the strategic balance of power in Europe and Russia would have to find a way to restore it.

    On the coming talks between U.S. President George W. Bush and Putin due to be held at the Bush family compound in Kennebunkport, Maine on July 1-2 , Peskov said that Russia-U.S. dispute over the missile shield plan is "too complicated and too sensitive" to be resolved during the two-day meeting.

    On the tense Russia-U.S. relationship, he said it is "definitely not living through its golden age. But I wouldn't agree we're living through the worst since the Cold War."