RUSSIA: Conor Sweeneyin Moscow looks at the background to the dispute between Russia and the US over the Bush administration's plans to deploy missile defences in eastern Europe
An offer from Georgia to host a US radar base has infuriated Moscow and increased military tensions with the West.
Georgia's foreign minister, Gela Bezhuashvili said of his country's offer: "There is no formal application, not even formal talks," he said. "But if they ask for help, we will talk with them."
The move has been met with anger in Moscow. Former Russian chief-of-staff Col Gen Viktor Yesin said the US could use a Georgian base to monitor Russian intercontinental ballistic missile tests in the nearby Astrakhan region.
It follows a series of barbed exchanges between the former cold war foes.
Russia has already frozen one defence treaty last week and appears ready to make a second gesture over its opposition to the missile shield the Pentagon wants to extend across Europe.
Russian president Vladimir Putin, along with Russian military chiefs, fears that US plans to locate what it says are purely defensive missile bases close to Russia's borders will upset the current military balance between his country and Nato.
Boosted by its growing economic strength, Russia has been reasserting itself.
However, Mr Putin is concerned that US plans for the missile shield go further than the stated intention to halt terrorist missile attacks from so-called rogue states.
The Kremlin believes Washington is not telling the truth when it says that only 10 interceptor missiles would be deployed in Poland, linked to a radar base in the Czech Republic. Russia feels the missile shield is a move towards a more sophisticated umbrella to protect the US from Russian weaponry. This is seen as a reaction to Russia's recent resurgence.
Mr Putin then announced that his country would halt its commitment to a little-known treaty on conventional troop levels in Europe in a protest at what he perceives as the aggressive tone emanating from the Bush administration and its Nato allies.
"They are taking advantage of the situation to build up their own system of military bases along our borders.
"Furthermore, they plan to deploy elements of a missile defence system in the Czech Republic and Poland.
"New Nato members such as Slovenia and the Baltic States, despite the preliminary agreements reached with Nato, have not signed the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty at all.
"This creates a real threat and an unpredictable situation for Russia," Mr Putin said.
The Pentagon claims that, like two similar bases in Alaska and California, the sites in eastern Europe are meant to knock out weapons of mass destruction fired by enemies like Iran or North Korea long before they reach America.
US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice has described as "ludicrous" and "nonsense" the suggestion that Russia could be the real target, arguing that with hundreds of Russian warheads facing Nato countries, the limited response provided by the missile shield would be irrelevant.
However, US concerns about Russia are growing. The latest human rights report from the US state department describes Russia as one of the most repressive countries in the world.
Meanwhile, US director of national intelligence Michael McConnell also complained this week that Russian covert activities in the US have reached the same level of aggression as in the cold war.
A year ago, Russia claimed that it had caught four British diplomats using a high-tech "rock" to gather information electronically from agents in Moscow.
Russian intelligence agencies have repeatedly claimed that many foreign-funded non-governmental organisations are intent on triggering a Ukrainian-style orange revolution with funding from abroad.
Pro-US signals from former Warsaw Pact countries and current allies of the US like Poland are fuelling Moscow's misgivings.
The Polish government has already linked its support for the deployment of the missile shield with the arrival of separate defensive Patriot missile batteries to help ward off any potential Russian attack.
Many of America's newest allies, like Georgia, also see Russia's growing isolation from the West as a chance to boost their own credibility in Washington.
Czech president Vaclav Klaus tried to mollify Mr Putin during an official visit last week by reassuring him that his country would never threaten Russia.
Expressing fundamental misgivings about who controls the proposed missile sites, Mr Putin replied that Mr Klaus couldn't threaten Russia because "the Czech Republic would not have control of these stations", cutting to the heart of Russian concerns.
The current row is similar to the tensions between the two camps in the early 1980s when the US planned to position Pershing and Tomahawk missiles in Europe, which could, in theory, have been used to launch a pre-emptive strike on Russian cities.
After years of debate, an alternative approach was found and the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty was agreed in 1988, which led to the elimination of nearly 2,700 weapons by the Cold War foes within four years.
Earlier this year, Mr Putin and current military chief-of-staff Gen Yury Baluyevsky complained that the treaty no longer served Russia's interests.
If the Russians don't start to feel less alarmed about American intentions shortly, then it will probably be the next treaty to be formally suspended.
The head of the disarmament section at the Russian Academy of Sciences World Economy and International Relations Institute in Moscow, Aleksandr Pikayev, said this week that Russia suspects only the US will stand to benefit from its current plan for a European missile shield.
Mr Pikayev said US offers to exchange data and technology about the missile shield with Russia are not sufficient to soothe Russian concerns.
"The US has never proposed to anyone the deployment of a joint missile defence system.
"It is merely prepared to use the territories of particular countries in its own interests.
"Whatever might be said, the United States is creating missile defences in the hope that at some time in the future it will be able to use them also against Russia," said Mr Pikayev.
A US House committee yesterday cut money requested by president Bush to deploy the missile shield, with some lawmakers saying there has not been enough consultation with allies or testing of technology.