Senior U.S. diplomat: Russia missile plan has "rattling effect", reality less dramatic

PRAGUE (Reuters) - A senior U.S. State Department official played down on Thursday an announcement by Russia that it will add more than 40 new intercontinental ballistic missiles to its nuclear arsenal. "Those kinds of announcements when made publicly like that obviously have a rattling effect," Victoria Nuland, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European affairs, told reporters on a visit to the Czech capital. "When we look at what is actually happening inside Russia it is far less dramatic," she said, commenting on Russian President Vladimir Putin's announcement of the plan on Tuesday. "We fully expect and will insist that Russia keep its commitments under the arms control agreements that we have and that all of this will be within that system of verification," Nuland said. "We will be watching extremely closely what happens." (Reporting by Jan Lopatka; Writing by Jason Hovet; Editing by Gareth Jones)