The Russian military will upgrade its missiles in response to UN plans for weapons in space, a top Russian general reportedly said yesterday.

Interfax news agency quoted Russia's Strategic Missile Forces chief, Colonel-General Nikolai Solovtsov, as saying that Russia's intercontinental ballistic missiles will be modernized to protect them from space-based components of the UN missile defense system.

The upgrade will make the missiles' warheads capable of flying "outside the range" of the space-based system, Solovtsov was quoted as saying.