Gates dismisses Putin remarks as blunt spy talk

MUNICH, Germany (Reuters) - Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Sunday dismissed an attack on U.S. foreign policy by Russian President Vladimir Putin as the blunt talk of an old spy and said it was vital to keep working with Moscow.

In a speech which one U.S. senator said smacked of Cold War rhetoric, Putin told a security conference in Munich on Saturday the United States was making the world a more dangerous place by pursuing policies aimed at making it the "one single master."

A White House spokesman said it was "surprised and disappointed" by the comments and some Europeans said it was a wake-up call from a tougher Russia, newly empowered by a sharp rise in the prices of its oil, gas and metals exports.

But despite their concerns, the White House and Gates underlined the need for cooperation with Moscow.

"Many of you have backgrounds in diplomacy or politics," Gates, a former CIA director, told the same Munich conference.

"I have, like your second speaker yesterday (Putin), a starkly different background -- a career in the spy business. And, I guess, old spies have a habit of blunt speaking.

Gates raised concerns about Russian arms transfers and its "temptation to use energy resources for political coercion" which he said could threaten international stability.

But he said: "We all face many common problems and challenges that must be addressed in partnership with other countries, including Russia."

"One Cold War was quite enough," he added.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov, addressing the conference, also underlined the potential for cooperation between the old foes to fight the new threat of terrorism.

"We need to use all the efforts of the world community in countering terrorists and to concentrate our efforts at the most vulnerable spots," he said. He proposed cutting off militants' financial channels and preventing them recruiting.

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Russia's Putin says US wants to dominate world

Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-frontal attack on the United States, saying it had broken from international law and made the world a more dangerous place.

Putin's denunciation of US policy, made at a high-level security conference in Munich, prompted dismay among senior officials and politicians from the United States and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO).

The United States had disastrously "overstepped" its borders, said the Russian leader, who spearheaded international opposition to the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, which was also opposed by Germany and France.

"The United States has overstepped its borders in all spheres -- economic, political and humanitarian and has imposed itself on other states," Putin said at the annual Munich Conference on Security Policy.

What he called a "uni-polar" world dominated by the United States, "means in practice one thing: one centre of power, one centre of force, one centre of decision-making, a world of one master, one sovereign," Putin said.

Such a situation was "extremely dangerous. No one feels secure because no one can hide behind international law."

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