Russia's new ambassador to Nato, Dmitry Rogozin, has begun his job by warning the alliance not to ensure its own security at the expense of others.

In a newspaper interview, he said Moscow's decision to suspend its role in a key European arms treaty was a liberation from "colonial dependency".

Russia halted its participation last month in the 1990 Conventional Forces in Europe treaty.

Mr Rogozin is well known in Russia for his outspoken nationalist views.

Hawkish politician

Mr Rogozin's appointment by President Putin on Thursday was seen in Moscow as a reflection of Russia's more assertive stance towards the West.

A former head of the anti-immigration Russian Motherland party, Mr Rogozin has previously warned the Kremlin that Nato poses a threat and he has called for Russia to stand firm against independence for Kosovo.

Mr Rogozin has also served as Russia's representative to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (Pace), a multi-national Strasbourg-based human rights body.

In 2005, Russia's Supreme Court banned Motherland from taking part in elections to the Moscow City Council.

The court ruled that a campaign advertisement in which Mr Rogozin appeared was racist.