MOSCOW Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed as rubbish on Saturday U.S. comments that the Kremlin had stationed tactical nuclear weapons in its Baltic enclave Kaliningrad.

The Foreign Ministry also issued a denial through spokesman Alexander Yakovenko, who was quoted by local news agencies as saying there had been no tactical nuclear weapons deployed in Kaliningrad, which lies between Poland and Lithuania.

Putin, responding in German to a question about the alleged deployment of the missiles, was quoted by Interfax news agency as saying: "That's rubbish."

Putin, fluent in German, was speaking during a private visit to Moscow by German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, who arrived in the Russian capital earlier on Saturday to celebrate the Orthodox Christmas.

A U.S. official said in Washington on Wednesday there had been "some movement of tactical nuclear weapons into Kaliningrad".

The U.S. comment, made after the story broke in the ****Washington Times**** newspaper, sent a shudder through Kaliningrad's Baltic neighbors and prompted regional politicians and analysts to warn of a return to the tense days of the Cold War.

But on Thursday Kaliningrad Governor Vladimir Yegorov dismissed the ****Washington Times**** report as a "dangerous joke".

Ria news agency quoted Foreign Ministry Spokesman Yakovenko as saying: "There have been no tactical nuclear weapons (deployed in Kaliningrad) on naval objects, including at sea, on land and on the Air Force, and none have been taken there."

(Reuter)