MOSCOW. July 8 (Interfax) - Russia's military potential is sufficient to give an appropriate response to the deployment of U.S. missile defense elements in Eastern Europe, including the Czech Republic, Federation Council Deputy Speaker Svetlana Orlova said in an interview with Interfax on Tuesday.

"I have no doubt that we can give an appropriate response to U.S. threats and properly protect our external borders," she said.

"The American administration cannot understand that the world will never again be unipolar but will be multi-polar," she said.

Dmitry Mezentsev, another deputy speaker of the Federation Council, pointed out that Russia has consistently defended its position on the deployment of U.S. missile defense elements in Europe.

"Russian President Dmitry Medvedev also brought up this issue at the G8 meeting in Japan," Mezentsev said.

The insistence with which NATO is lobbying its idea to deploy missile defense elements in Europe could be much more useful if the U.S. chooses another vector in strengthening the international security system, Mezentsev said.

Mezentsev also said that he was sure Russia has a sufficient military potential to appropriately respond to U.S. plans.

Vasily Likhachyov, a deputy head of the Federation Council international affairs committee, said that the agreement on deploying U.S. missile defense facilities in Europe, which was signed in Prague on Tuesday, opens the floodgate to the implementation of the plans of the U.S. and their supporters in NATO and the European Union regarding their vision of the international security system.

"The further steps are quite difficult to forecast," Likhachyov told Interfax, noting that many in the Czech political elite are against the plans to deploy missile defense facilities in the country.

"There is a kind of rejection of this project by public opinion. More than 70% of Czechs, as is seen from the results of polls, are against the deployment of missile defense elements in their territory," he said.

The Russian president was quite categorical about U.S. plans regarding the deployment of its missile defense elements in the Czech Republic and Poland at the last G8 summit, Likhachyov said. The U.S. assumes great responsibility in this situation, as Moscow has said repeatedly that "the modern notion of security, including regional security, is based on principles of universalism and indivisibility," he said.

"This sort of selective option will not resolve security problems in principle, especially considering that Washington directly ties these issues to Iran's technological potential," Likhachyov said.

Washington is perfectly aware that Iran's offensive nuclear potential is "at a very low level and does not pose a real threat to the U.S. today," he said.

"The implementation of the missile defense deployment plans could trigger the beginning of a new arms race and worsen relations and mutual understanding between various countries, including those that are not NATO members," he said.

The decision to deploy missile defense elements only emphasizes the importance of Russia's proposal to build a common European nuclear security space, he said.