Nov. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Russian President Dmitry Medvedev urged U.S. President-elect Barack Obama to reconsider plans to deploy a missile-defense shield in Europe, saying Russia's ready to drop its retaliatory measures in response.

Medvedev said his threat last week to deploy short-range Iskander missiles in Kaliningrad, a Russian region wedged between Poland and Lithuania, was a ``proportionate'' response to the ``unilateral'' U.S. missile-shield project promoted by President George W. Bush.

Russia is ready to ``reverse this decision'' if the new U.S. administration ``reconsiders all the consequences of the move to station missiles and radars and its effectiveness,'' Medvedev said in an interview with French newspaper Le Figaro, published today on the Kremlin Web Site.

Obama's office on Nov. 8 said the president-elect had made ``no commitment'' to the planned missile-defense sites in Poland and the Czech Republic. Russia has warned that the proposed shield, which the U.S. says is necessary to protect against attack by ``rogue states'' such as Iran, would threaten its security. The dispute has contributed to a post-Cold War low in U.S.-Russia ties.

`Cause for Hope'

Medvedev said the ``initial reaction'' from the incoming Obama administration ``gives us cause for hope.'' Russia is ready to resume talks on its proposal for a joint missile- defense system that would involve Russia, the U.S. and the European Union, he said.

``Our future partners are thinking about whether it's useful or not, effective or not,'' Medvedev said, referring to Bush's missile-defense plan. ``It looks like we have something to talk about.''

John Bolton, a neoconservative who was U.S. envoy to the United Nations, said that Obama appears ready to backtrack on the missile shield. Such a decision would be a ``significant step backward,'' he said in a commentary published today in the Wall Street Journal.

The Russian leader said he had a ``very good'' phone conversation with Obama after the Democrat's election victory, noting that the president-elect had a ``large fund of goodwill'' to draw on.

`Normal' Relations

``I hope that we can build normal and full-ranging ties of partnership with the new administration and find solutions to difficult issues that proved impossible with our existing colleagues,'' he said.

Michael McFaul, a Russia specialist at Stanford University who advised Obama during his presidential campaign, said last month that the U.S. should keep open negotiations with the Russian government on a missile-defense system for Europe, and also support Russia's entry into the World Trade Organization.

``We don't believe in trying to isolate Russia,'' McFaul said in a phone interview, stressing that he was giving his personal view and not that of Obama. ``Those kind of actions we see as counterproductive in dealing with Russia.''

The U.S. signed agreements earlier this year on stationing a radar station in the Czech Republic and 10 interceptor missiles in Poland, both former Soviet allies.

To contact the reporter on this story: Henry Meyer in Moscow at hmeyer4@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: November 13, 2008 05:13 EST