"They have sent concrete proposals. We are continuing to study them, but our first impression is that they do not meet our expectations. This is not what was promised orally" in recent talks on the subject, the source said.

The comments were in marked contrast to remarks Thursday by President Vladimir Putin, who said he discussed the issue with US President George W. Bush "the other day" and "it seems that our concerns are being listened to."

The foreign ministry source said the written offers from Washington "do not correspond" with proposals made orally by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates in talks in Moscow last month.

Another Russian foreign ministry source quoted later by Russian agencies was even more critical, saying that the latest US correspondence was dramatically different from the Rice-Gates proposals.

"Now there is no more talk of joint assessment of threats, of Russian experts' presence at missile shield's sites, no readiness to keep the system non-operational if there is no actual missile threat -- everything is so washed out that it is hard to recognize the earlier proposals."

Rice and Gates discussed the US missile defence project with Putin and with their Russian counterparts and US officials said afterwards that they had made several proposals designed to ease Russian concern.

Those included a proposal to delay activation of the missile defence system until Washington and Moscow were in agreement on "definitive proof" of missile threats from Iran or elsewhere.

They also included a plan to station Russian liaison officers at proposed US missile defence sites in Poland and the Czech Republic, as long as the host countries agreed to this.

The US plan calls for setting up a powerful early-warning radar station in the Czech Republic to assist in guidance of interceptor missiles, 10 of which would be based in Poland.

Putin has compared the US plan to set up the system in close proximity to Russia to the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, when the Soviet Union began deploying nuclear-capable missiles in Cuba.

The United States has rejected the comparison as well as Moscow's assertion that the missile defence system is a security threat to Russia.

Russia however says it will be forced to take "adequate" steps to protect its security if the United States goes ahead with the plan.

On November 14, the head of Russia's missile and artillery forces, General Vladimir Zaritsky, raised the possibility that Moscow could respond to the US plan by deploying missiles of its own in neighbouring Belarus.

In his meeting with Rice and Gates last month, Putin also raised the possibility that Russia would withdraw from a Cold War-era treaty limiting medium-range missile deployments if Washington went ahead with its plan.

The United States says its missile defence system would be designed to protect itself and allies in Europe from growing missile threats from "rogue states," particularly Iran.

Russia says the system would threaten its own security. It has expressed similar concerns about other moves since the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union, including the expansion of the US-led NATO military alliance to Russian borders.

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