MOSCOW — A Russian military official said today that Moscow was backing off a threat to deploy missiles near Poland, according to a report that may have been aimed at testing President Barack Obama's intent to build a European missile shield.

The private Interfax news agency cited an unidentified armed forces general staff official as saying Russia has suspended implementation of plans to deploy Iskander missiles in the Kaliningrad enclave because the Obama administration is not pushing hard to build an interceptor site next door in Poland.

A Kremlin official told The Associated Press that the Interfax report erroneously implied that Russia had been taking action, now suspended, to place missiles in Kaliningrad. The official reiterated that President Dmitry Medvedev has said Russia would only send Iskanders there if the U.S. presses ahead with plans for missile interceptors in Poland and a radar in the Czech Republic.

That policy has not changed, the Kremlin official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the matter on record.

Defense Ministry officials made similar statements to the state-run ITAR-Tass and RIA-Novosti news agencies.

Still, the initial report sounded like a peace offering in one of the prickliest disputes between Russia and the U.S. under former President George W. Bush. It may have been aimed at eliciting a clear signal from Obama about whether he will press ahead with his predecessor's plans — and encouraging him to abandon them.