Putin says Russia will not be drawn into new arms race

MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that Russia would not allow itself to be drawn into what he called a new arms race.

"We must not allow ourselves to be drawn into this," he said in a speech to the State Council, which gathered ministers, governors and members of parliament.

"It's not our fault, we didn't start it. ... funnelling multi-billions of dollars into developing weapons systems."

"We drew down our bases in Cuba and in Vietnam. What did we get? New American bases in Romania, Bulgaria. A new third missile defence region in Poland, where it's being built," Putin said.

(Reporting by Tanya Mosolova, writing by Guy Faulconbridge and Conor Sweeney, editing by Christian Lowe)