French President Nicolas Sarkozy expressed Friday concerns about Russia's plans to install short-range missiles close to EU borders in response to the US missile deployment plan.

"I told President Medvedev how much we are concerned about his declaration [on missiles] and how there should be no deployment in any enclave as long as we have not discussed the new conditions of pan-European security," Sarkozy said, as cited by BBC, after the meeting of the leaders during an EU-Russia summit in the French city of Nice.

Sarkozy and Medvedev backed plans for a pan-European security summit next year to ease tensions raised by the dispute over missile systems in eastern Europe and the Georgia crisis.

The summit could take place next June or July and bring together the US, Russia and the EU's 27 member-states under the auspices of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe.

Although Sarkozy is concerned about Russian missiles, the French president has also said that a planned US missile defense system in Europe would do nothing to help European security but "would complicate things."

Russia has long objected to US plans to base a missile defense system in Eastern Europe. Last week President Dmitri Medvedev said Russia will deploy short-range missiles near Poland to combat what he termed "the relentless expansion of NATO" and the testing of Russian strength.

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