The US today scrapped plans for a missile defence shield in eastern Europe that had raised new tensions with Russia.

Russia’s president promised to start withdrawing forces from positions in Georgia today, but suggested they could stay in the breakaway region at the heart of the fighting that has reignited Cold War tensions.

The chief suspect in the killing of ex-KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko today claimed that British intelligence services had a hand in the poisoning – an assertion likely to further damage relations between Moscow and London.

Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in India today, hoping to use the two nations’ decades-long friendship to push for deals in civilian nuclear co-operation, military hardware and trade expansion between the booming economies.

IRAN yesterday rejected a Russian compromise in the stand-off over its suspect nuclear programme.