MOSCOW (AP) - Russia lashed out at the United States on Wednesday over a missile defense deal with Poland and warned ominously that Moscow's response to further development of the missile shield would go beyond diplomacy.

Russia's Foreign Ministry said the U.S. missile shield plans are clearly aimed at weakening Russia, calling them part of growing "U.S. efforts to change the strategic balance of power in its favor."

"The long-range interceptor missiles to be deployed in Poland do not have, and in the foreseeable future will not have, any target other than Russian intercontinental ballistic missiles," a ministry statement said.

"It is clear to us - and the U.S. leadership does not deny this - that the ... U.S. anti-missile defense in Europe will be broadened and modernized. In this case Russia will be forced to react, and not only through diplomatic demarches," the statement said.

It was not as stark as the warning from a Russian general last week that Poland is risking a Russian attack, possibly even with nuclear weapons, by agreeing to host American interceptors. But it came amid severe tension between Russia and the U.S. over the war in Georgia.

The ministry said the timing of the U.S. deal was not a coincidence. It also expressed concern that a U.S.-Poland declaration signed alongside the deal included a U.S. promise to place a battery of Patriot missiles in Poland by 2012.