A new cold wind is blowing through East/West relations, with Russia stepping up the pressure over America's planned eastern European anti-missile shield.

Moscow's top general, Chief of Staff Yuri Baluyevsky, warned that any firing of a missile from the proposed system could provoke a Russian launch in response.

It's the latest sign of President Putin's increasingly bullish foreign policy. He discussed security with his Belarussian ally in Minsk yesterday.

Alexander Lukashenko said he would do whatever was needed to support Russia in the row over the anti-missile shield, although it is not thought that means siting Russian missiles on Belarussian soil.

The United States insists the radar and missile system proposed for Poland and the Czech Republic is a vital part of its defence against rogue states like Iran or North Korea.

Warsaw and Prague are keen to play their part as members of NATO, despite angry criticism from the Kremlin.

Moscow has watched NATO's expansion into former Warsaw Pact countries with unease; new bases are planned in Bulgaria and Romania, and it fears NATO could deploy in the Baltic states, within striking distance of Russia's second city, St Petersburg.
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