BERLIN (AP) – The Russian government, while publicly critical of an American plan to install missile defense bases in eastern Europe, is internally conflicted by it, Secretary of Defense Gates said Wednesday.

At the close of a three-day trip that included stops in Moscow and Warsaw as well as the German capital, Mr. Gates appeared to refer not only to the proposed bases in Poland and the Czech Republic but also a new offer presented to Moscow last week on new ways to work together on strategic missile defense.

“There clearly have to be divisions in Moscow on how to respond, frankly,” Mr. Gates said at a joint news conference with German Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung. “It doesn’t surprise me.”

He did not cite specific evidence of an internal debate, and Russia’s public statements have been uniformly negative.

Gates said it was at the urging of German Chancellor Merkel that the Bush administration decided to intensify its consultations with Moscow on missile defense. He said that about two weeks ago Russian President Putin asked Bush to send Mr. Gates to Moscow for detailed talks on the subject.

Secretary of State Rice is meeting with her Russian counterpart this week at a NATO meeting in Norway.

Mr. Gates said it was possible that the Russians thought that in his public comments he had characterized his talks in Moscow “too warmly.” The implication is that the Russians may have felt compelled to respond even more critically.

Russian officials have called the American plan destabilizing and a potential threat to Russia.

After Mr. Gates left Moscow on Tuesday, Russia’s chief of general staff, General Yuri Baluyevsky, warned that Russia could target elements of the proposed American missile defense system in Europe.

“If we see that the facilities pose a threat to Russia’s security, the facilities will be objects for plans of our forces. Whether strategic, nuclear or otherwise – that’s a technical question,” the general said.

His comments were among the harshest in months of Russian criticism of the American plans.

Asked about the comments by General Baluyevsky and other officials in recent days, Mr. Gates said the Russian general had not attended some of Mr. Gates’ meetings in Moscow, suggesting that General Baluyevsky was not fully informed.

Mr. Gates said the Russians should be given time to consider what Mr. Gates told them in Moscow. He invited the Russians to visit the American missile interceptor base in Alaska and an associated radar in California. He said this could provide them with assurance of the system’s capabilities and limitations.

“I have no doubt there is debate in Moscow on how to respond, given the circumstances,” Mr. Gates said.

Mr. Yung, the German defense minister, offered words of support for the American plan for basing missile interceptors and a missile-tracking radar in eastern Europe.

“The fears voiced by Russia are completely unfounded,” Mr. Jung said.

Mr. Gates’ stop in Berlin was part of the Bush administration’s stepped-up campaign to overcome objections from some allies to the plan for placing parts of an expanded missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic.

German politicians have voiced differing opinions about missile defense. Merkel, the conservative chancellor who heads a coalition with the left-wing Social Democrats, has tread softly on the issue, saying only that it ought to be discussed in NATO.

Mr. Jung has been more strongly in favor of the American proposals, saying missile defense is in Europe’s interest and expressing the belief that the system would not cover all of Europe. The head of the Social Democrats, Kurt Beck, has emphatically rejected the need for the American system.

Mr. Gates was returning to Washington on Wednesday.