US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice expressed disappointment here Wednesday at Russia's reaction to Washington's plans to install part of a missile defence shield in eastern Europe.
"I'm sorry to say it was predictable, if disappointing," given all the effort both she and US Defense Secretary Robert Gates had made to ease Russian concerns about the project, Rice said at a news conference.
Earlier, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev had warned that he was considering countermeasures if the United States goes ahead with plans for a missile defence shield in Poland and the Czech Republic.
Medvedev said a deal on the missile plan signed this week between the United States and the Czech Republic "offends us greatly."
"Russia isn't going to get hysterical but will be studying countermeasures," Medvedev told reporters after a summit of Group of Eight leaders including US President George W. Bush in the northern Japanese town of Toyako.
Rice was in Sofia to receive a medal for her role in obtaining the release a year ago of Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor jailed in Libya.
During her brief stop, she met with Foreign Minister Ivaylo Kalfin, Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev and President Georgy Parvanov.
