As soon as the U.S. and Poland signed their long awaited missile defense pact on August 20 (a deal recently reported in FrontPage), the Kremlin issued a sinister threat reminiscent of its old Cold War rhetoric.

The deal places 10 missile defense interceptors on Polish territory, 115 miles from the Russian border. The missiles are designed to deter and, if necessary, defeat an Iranian attack, not to attack the former Soviet Union. But the Russians don't believe that.

Hours after the signing, Russia's Foreign Ministry described the new base as "one of the instruments in an extremely dangerous bundle of American military projects involving the one-sided development of a global missile shield system." The Foreign Ministry insisted that the interceptors don't have "any target other than Russian intercontinental ballistic missiles," and issued a veiled threat: "In this case Russia will be forced to react, and not only through diplomatic" channels.

A few days earlier, Deputy Chief of Staff General Anatoly Nogovitsyn had warned, "Poland, by deploying [the system] is exposing itself to [nuclear] attack, one hundred percent."

Earlier, the chief of Russia's strategic missile command suggested aiming nuclear missiles at Poland, while Vladimir Putin himself has warned Poland's neighbor that "Russia will have to point its warheads at Ukrainian territory" if Ukraine joined NATO.

In Poland to sign the aggreement, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice dismissed any suggestion that the new system represents a threat to Russia, and denounced General Nogovitsyn's threat.

Comments like this "border on the bizarre, frankly," said Rice, adding, "The Russians are losing their credibility." "Missile defense, of course, is aimed at no one," Rice futher explained. "It is in our defense that we do this."

"It's also the case that when you threaten Poland, you perhaps forget that it is not 1988," Rice continued. "It's 2008 and the United States has a ... firm treaty guarantee to defend Poland's territory as if it was the territory of the United States. So it's probably not wise to throw these threats around."

Perhaps, but Russia seems eager to turn back the clock, to a time when it was the United States' most feared enemy, and not merely a nation among others.

Since June 28, 2004, when the Coalition Provisional Authority officially transferred sovereignty to the Iraqi Interim Government, Marines have done their part to assist the Iraqi people in building a unified Iraq with the political and economic stability needed to govern itself.

Marines with Task Force 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 1, have hit the sands of Camp Habbaniyah with a passion for their mission. The battalion officially took control of the area from 2nd Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment, Aug. 10.

Inheriting an area of operations in an increasingly peaceful Iraq, 1st Battalion, 2nd Marines will conduct partnered operations and build civic and Iraqi Security Force capabilities to enable a self-reliant and legitimate local security and government apparatus that facilitates transition and provincial Iraqi control.

“We want to see the Iraqis put their face on the mission while we are here to provide over-watch and reassure them they are doing right,” explained Staff Sgt. Issac Sato, a platoon sergeant with the battalion’s Quick Reaction Force.

Taking the reins from their predecessor of the area, 1st Bn., 2nd Marines are working hand-in-hand with the Iraqi Army, Iraqi Police and the civilian populace to improve the quality of life.

The steps the Iraqi people are taking, with the help of Marines, are crucial because, “With Saddam gone and violence down, the Iraqis want their own country and in order to do that they have to take the lead,” said Sato.

Marines have trained across the whole spectrum of warfare, from high intensity conflict to the complex nature of a counter insurgency environment. But now the Marines of 1st Battalion, 2d Marines are helping Iraqis help themselves to improve their infrastructure and develop governance and security at the local level.

“The cohesion and camaraderie, in addition to training, has prepared the leadership as well as the individual Marine to successfully complete every mission,” said Maj. Gordon Miller, the battalion’s executive officer.

Miller stressed the importance of building a unified community by working with the people for security, governance and essential services. “Success will come when Iraqis handle everything themselves,” he said.

Marines and their Iraqi brethren have the “knowledge, skill and will to make it happen,” said Miller.

JAKARTA, Indonesia — Hundreds of Christian theology students have been living in tents since a mob of angry Muslim neighbors stormed their campus last month wielding bamboo spears and hurling Molotov cocktails.

The incident comes amid growing concern that Indonesia's tradition of religious tolerance is under threat from Islamic hard-liners.

In talks since the attack, the Arastamar Evangelical School of Theology has reluctantly agreed to shut its 20-year-old campus in east Jakarta, accepting an offer this week to move to a small office building on the other side of the Indonesian capital.

"Why should we be forced from our house while our attackers can walk freely?" asked the Rev. Matheus Mangentang, chairman of the 1,400-student school.

The government of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, which relies on the support of Islamic parties in Parliament, is struggling to balance deep Islamic traditions and a secular constitution. With elections coming next April, the government seems unwilling to defend religious minorities, lest it be portrayed as anti-Islamic in what is the world's most populous Muslim-majority country.

A newborn baby that was abandoned outdoors by her 14-year-old mother during the Argentina winter was found safe Thursday after being kept alive and warm by a mother dog and her brood of puppies, Reuters reported.

Farmer Fabio Anze found the naked baby near the city of La Plata, Argentina, lying amongst his dog China’s puppies. The baby was taken to the hospital after Anze called the authorities.

Hospital officials said the baby was only a few hours old when she was found, and was in good health despite several bruises.

Temperatures at night around La Plata, 40 miles south of Buenos Aires, this time of year are cold, but not freezing.

Police have located the 14-year-old mother. It is not known whether she left her baby in the dog's pen or whether the dog found the baby outdoors and carried it in to join her puppies, Reuters reported.

There's trouble in paradise. Cancel the coronation. Send back the commemorative medals. Put those “Yes We Can” T-shirts up on eBay. Keep the Change.

Barack Obama's historic procession to the American presidency has been rudely interrupted. The global healing he promised is in jeopardy. If you're prone to emotional breakdown, you might want to take a seat before I say this. He might not win.

How can it be, you ask? Didn't we see him just last month speaking to 200,000 adoring Germans in Berlin? Didn't he get the red carpet treatment in France - France of all places? Doesn't every British politician want to be seen clutching the hem of his garment?

All true. But as cruel geography and the selfish designs of the American Founding Fathers would have it, Europeans don't get to choose the US president. Somewhere along the way to the Obama presidency, somebody forgot to ask the American people.

And wouldn't you know it, they insist on looking this gift thoroughbred in the mouth. Who'd have thought it? You present them with the man who deigns to deliver them from their plight and they want to sit around and ask hard questions about who he is and what he believes and where he might actually take the country. The ingrates!

So we arrive this weekend at the true starting line of the US presidential race and the rituals that begin the real election campaign: the selection of the vice-presidential running-mates, and the back-to-back party nominating conventions. A year and a half after the warm-ups began, the two remaining candidates are more or less tied. Senator Obama's summer lead in the opinion polls has evaporated. John McCain, that grumpy, grisly, gnarled old Republican, that Gollum to Senator Obama's Bilbo Baggins, might, just might, actually win this thing.

What happened?

Of course, the conventional view is that it's all the work of that most terrifyingly effective piece of artillery since the invention of the howitzer, the Republican Attack Machine.

The credulous American voter, we're told, has been subjected in the last month to a televised blitzkrieg of right-wing lies about the hapless Democrat. He's not patriotic. He might be a Muslim. He might not even be American. He probably is a Muslim. There's no evidence he's ever said anything nice about Michael Phelps. He goes to the mosque on Fridays. If Obama's the leader of the free world, it won't be the Caucasian Georgia the Russians invade but the one sandwiched between Florida and South Carolina. Gullible Americans are going to fall for it, just as they fell for Stupid George W over Brilliant Al Gore and Brave John Kerry. 

Forgive me for interrupting this reverie but in the real world something else is going on.

Columns of Russian tanks were gathering on the road to Gori today as they appeared to be preparing for a mass withdrawal from the area.
 
Troops identified as peacekeepers, however, continued to man some checkpoints deep inside Georgia away from the agreed buffer zones where Russia is permitted to station its forces. The position of a checkpoint at Natsreti close to Gori raises questions about the extent of the security zone that Russia will continue to operate on Georgian soil.

The Times saw around 50 tanks and armed personnel carriers on the road between Gori and Tbilisi appearing to pulling out towards South Ossetia.

The strategically important road was apparently being vacated today with a checkpoint at Igoeti dismantled by this afternoon. Georgian police were standing at the side of the road watching the Russian Army leave the blockade around 40km outside Tbilisi. It is the closest the Georgian forces have been to Gori for over a week.

The troop movement came the day after President Medvedev of Russia said that only 500 soldiers would be left inside Georgia by the end of today.

He has repeatedly told the West that his forces would leave Georgia, but they so far failed to meet any of the deadlines that have been set.

The United States and the European Union are growing frustrated at Russia’s intransigence and suspicious of the Kremlin’s real motives.

A senior US military officer said in Tbilisi today that the withdrawal was “far too little, far too slow”.

The Tucson Incursion is currently being investigated by DHS/CBP and the Border Patrol. We will provide updates as the investigation continues and as new information is received. We are cooperating within our respective departments as well as with the Government of Mexico (GoM) to bring clarity and resolution to this matter. Below are a few points the Border Patrol would like to emphasize:

We are aware of an incident involving an apparent incursion by the Mexican military south of Ajo, Arizona.

All indications at this point show that there were in fact Mexican troops on US soil.

We also have no reason to doubt the story of the Border Patrol agent on the scene about the unnecessary show of force by the military.

We are actively investigating this incident with the Mexican government, as well as other agencies, in order to bring it to resolution.

There are some areas of the border where the boundary is indiscernible.

The addition of tactical infrastructure along the border clearly delineates that line as well as acts as persistent impedance to those crossing illegally into the Untied States.

Where this incident took place, there is a barbed-wire fence that marks the borderline as well as new tactical infrastructure within sight.

We are looking for corrective action by GoM to ensure that this in no way shape or form happens again and expect decisive, definitive action to make certain this isn't repeated.

We will not tolerate negligent and/or hostile actions perpetrated by Mexican military on our soil or on our agents protecting this nation.

Crossing into our country would be negligent, but the pointing of weapons or detaining our agent at gunpoint would be a hostile action.

This fiscal year, there have been 43 recorded incursions into the United States. Since 1996, there have been more than 260.

When McCain scored a knockout over Senator Obama the other night at the Saddleback Church in Orange County by answering Reverend Warren’s questions more confidently, clearly and decisively than the stumbling, obfuscating Obama, Obama’s campaign accused the Straight Talk Express of cheating. Whiners.

There is no evidence -- none -- that McCain heard Obama’s rambling and confusing answers prior to taking the stage and answering Reverend Warren’s questions. The evidence is pretty plain: when thrashed soundly by a superior opponent, the Obama camp whined like school girls.

The Obama camp, recognizing that McCain answered the questions in a more straightforward, presidential tone than their guy, immediately began complaining that McCain must have cheated by listening to Obama fumble his answers time and time again. Obama appeared like the freshman senator that he is.

The bottom line is this: McCain appeared much more presidential than Obama. And there is a very valid reason for this: as a natural leader, McCain is a far better choice than Obama, who is the guy with the least amount of experience in the history of presidential campaigns.

When Obama does not have a teleprompter in front of him to deliver another hollow message of transparent, symbolic hope and change, his speech and answers to questions are disjointed and confusing. Watch him closely. He is not confident.

Are you, like me, wondering how a President Obama would fair politically against determined adversaries such as Iranian psychopath Ahmadinejad, North Korea’s Littler Hitler, Kim Jong Il, or how he would navigate through political minefields such as the trade imbalance with China, Russian saber rattling which could lead to a new Cold War, etc.? Scary thought.

The hunt was on Wednesday for two North American forest-roaming bipeds, last seen in Northern California, present whereabouts unknown.

Matthew Whitton and Rick Dyer, the Georgia men who claimed to have found a Bigfoot body, were being sought by Tom Biscardi, whose money they absconded with once the frozen "corpse" was revealed to be a hoax.

"We have a contract with these people," Biscardi, a former Las Vegas promoter now based in Menlo Park, Calif., told Fox News Wednesday morning. "We paid them the money the night before [the press conference.] ... They didn't figure I'd have a turbo heater on that thing to thaw it out before they left California."

Biscardi wouldn't confirm where the body was, but it apparently had been moved from Georgia to Indiana. An Indianapolis Fox affiliate was given a look at the "corpse" Monday by Biscardi's investigator, Steve Kulls.

Asked to confirm rumors that he'd given Dyer and Whitton a $50,000 advance on future earnings from the bogus Bigfoot, Biscardi would say only that "it was a substantial amount of money" numbering in the thousands which came from unnamed "investors."

Biscardi told Fox's Megyn Kelly, who'd previously been invited to view the specimen herself, that the rubber Halloween suit had been stuffed full of, well, organic material.

"It was the most macabre thing you've ever seen in your life," he said. "There's body parts of other animals in there — bones, eyes, tongues, cheeks. It's just incredible."

Asked how he could have been fooled, Biscardi argued that it was hard to tell when the thing was encased in a block of ice.

Meanwhile, other Bigfoot hunters nationwide piled on Biscardi, noting that he was perfectly willing to charge for photos of the "corpse" on his Web site before Kulls determined it was fake early on Sunday morning.

"Warrants need to be issued immediately before Biscardi leaves the country," read a manifesto posted on the Web site of the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization. "Santa Clara County, California, (where the press conference was held) clearly has jurisdiction to issue the warrants, and all the elements of fraud are present."

But Nick Muyo, a spokesman with the Santa Clara County district attorney's office, said jurisdiction might be hard to establish.

"If Tom Biscardi files a police report in Menlo Park, it would originate with San Mateo County," he said. "But it sounds like Santa Clara, as well as counties in Georgia and Indiana, could also get involved."

It's possible that fraud charges could be filed against Dyer and Whitton, as Biscardi seems to want, though it's not clear whether it'd be a criminal or civil case.

"[Biscardi] freely gave them the money," noted Jeffrey Turner, police chief of Clayton County, Ga., who fired Whitton as an officer Tuesday but couldn't locate him to inform him of his termination. "It'd be a civil matter."

Muyo said that once a police report was filed, then a criminal investigation could be launched.

Kulls, meanwhile, whom the BFRO labeled as "a long-time member of Biscardi's own gang," contacted Loren Coleman at Cryptomundo.com on Tuesday to dissociate himself from Biscardi.

"At this time I am breaking any association or cooperation with Tom Biscardi and his company," Kulls' statement read, though it also said, "People ask me if [Biscardi] was complicit in this hoax. I honestly believe he was not."

It may be difficult for Biscardi to claim he was defrauded, as the "24-Hour Sighting Hotline" number posted on Dyer and Whitton's Web site, BigfootTracker.com, asks for tips related to "leprechauns, unicorns, large cats, dinosaurs," as well as "Jimmy Hoffa or Elvis."

As for one scientist who Biscardi said on Friday would be examining the Bigfoot body? He told a news network he'd never been contacted.

Stanford University anthropologist Richard Klein said he was "sorry that my name and Stanford's name have been brought into this."

This week, Barack Obama's challenge is to select a running mate who's young, hip, and whose accomplishments in life don't overshadow Obama's. Allow me to suggest Kevin Federline.

The only thing we can be sure of is that Obama will choose someone who is the polar opposite of all his advisers until now. In other words, it will be a very, very white male who was probably proud of his country even before being chosen as Obama's running mate.

Obama's got a lot of ground to make up following that performance last weekend at the Saddleback presidential forum with pastor Rick Warren. Continued

After seeing Obama defend infanticide with the glib excuse that the question of when life begins is above his "pay-grade," Rev. Jeremiah Wright announced that although he's known Obama for 30 years, he only recently became aware of how extreme the senator's viewpoints were. Wright, after all, has his reputation to consider.

Network heads responded by dashing off an urgent memo: During the main presidential debates this fall, ask NO questions about abortion, ethics or evil! Morality isn't the Democrats' forte.

But most stunningly, when Warren asked Obama if he supported a constitutional amendment defining marriage as between a man and a woman, Obama said he did not "because historically -- because historically, we have not defined marriage in our Constitution."

I don't care if you support a marriage amendment or not. That answer is literally the stupidest thing I've ever heard anyone say. If marriage were already defined in the Constitution, we wouldn't need an amendment, no?

Say, you know what else was "historically" not defined in the Constitution? Slavery. The words "slavery" and "slave" do not appear once in the original Constitution. The framers correctly thought it would sully the freedom-enshrining document to acknowledge the repellent practice. (Much like abortion!)

But in 1865, the 13th Amendment banned slavery throughout the land, in the first constitutional phrase ever to mention "slavery": "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."

On Obama's "historical" argument, they shouldn't have passed the 13th Amendment because the Constitution "historically" had not mentioned slavery.

Do we know for a fact Barack Obama has read the Constitution? Obama's Facebook profile: "I'm pro-infanticide, I love sunsets, and I don't get the 13th Amendment!"

Answering Warren’s question of when a baby is entitled to human rights, Obama said, “Well, I think that whether you are looking at it from a theological perspective or a scientific perspective, answering that question with specificity, you know, is above my pay grade.”

Obama said he was pro-choice. When pressed to say whether he’d ever voted to limit abortions, Obama slipped and slid around the question, claiming he was in favor of limits on late-term abortions, but cited no example of ever voting for legislation to create such limits. McCain said plainly that he believed that life beings at conception and that, “I will be a pro-life president and this presidency will have pro life policies. That's my commitment, that's my commitment to you.”

The Russian occupation of the Georgian city of Gori appeared to be more entrenched tonight, despite claims by President Medvedev that his troops were planning to withdraw. 

As international pressure increased on Mr Medvedev to implement a French-brokered ceasefire pledge signed last week, the Kremlin declared today that Russian forces would start pulling back from the occupied territory tomorrow.

The ceasefire deal was meant to conclude a five-day war in which Russian forces launched an all-out assault within Georgia after stopping a Georgian army assault against Moscow-backed separatists the autonomous region of South Ossetia.

Yet despite Mr Medvedev's claim that a withdrawal was imminent, evidence from the scene today in Gori seemed to indicate that forces would not be leaving soon.

The Times was told that, after destroying Georgian radio and television transmitters, Russian troops had now installed their own, meaning Gori residents can now only tune in to channels from Moscow.

In addition, Russian troops were seen bolstering their positions in the hills which surround Gori, including creating improved machine gun posts.

Troops continue to surround Gori with tanks, armoured personnel carriers and security forces. All Georgian police and law enforcement were said to still be banned by Russia from operating there.

Russia's continuing presence in the city is now causing huge anger and frustration within Georgia's military ranks, as Georgian troops have withdrawn from Gori to Tblisi, and - according to the terms of last week's ceasefire - are under strict instructions not to confront the Russian forces unless they attack the capital.

Russia is believed to be continuing to refuse Gori's provincial administration any control over the city's policing and security, and it only has authority at present to oversee the distribution of aid, which was itself proving difficult to hand out amid the continuing Russian occupation.

Russian forces also continuing to man positions along the main road from Tbilisi to Gori, including at a checkpoint in Igoeti, only 30km from the capital.

However, despite Georgian claims that Russian forces were involved in a wrecking spree in Gori, there was little evidence to suggest this was taking place. Windows have been blown out in many of the homes and businesses in the centre of town following shelling over the past few days, but there is little evidence there has been a deliberate destruction of infrastructure.

Despite what appeared evidence of forces refusing to ease their occupation, Russian General Vyacheslav Borisov insisted that a promised withdrawal would take place. “The Russian troops are starting to pull out and Russian peacekeepers are coming in,” he said.

President Medvedev also insisted today that Russian regular forces would start their pull-out tomorrow.

“From tomorrow, Russia will begin withdrawing its military forces that are supporting Russian peacekeepers,” Mr Medvedev told Nicolas Sarkozy, the French President who negotiated the ceasefire, in a telephone conversation.

The pair discussed the“practical realisation” of the six-point ceasefire plan, the Kremlin added.

Promising a withdrawal of Russian forces, Mr Medvedev also “underlined the need for the unconditional and strict fulfilment by the Georgian side of the return of its military units to their permanent positions,” the statement said.

France, however, said that Mr Sarkozy used the phonecall to warn his Russian counterpart of the “serious consequences that a failure to quickly and fully implement the deal would have on relations between Russia and the European Union."

Of the phonecall, Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State, ratcheted up the rhetoric accusing Mr Medvedev of failing to adhere to the ceasefire and demanding he now does so. “This is the promise that the Russian president has given to the French president .. I hope this time he’ll keep his word," she said.

She also castigated Moscow for the eruption of violence in the Caucasus saying that it was now paying the price for its display of “disproportionate force against a small neighbour."

As international pressure on Russia to make good its promises increased, Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, went to Georgia to repeat European and American demands for a swift withdrawal.

In a statement of solidarity with Georgia, she said that eastern European country would join the Western defence alliance Nato despite Russia’s fierce opposition to such a move. “Georgia will become a member of Nato if it wants to - and it does want to,” she said.

Meanwhile, Gori's civil administration appeared to be struggling to distribute aid amid the Russian siege.

As an aid bus arrived in the centre of the city, a crowd of 150 jostled against the bus to try to be first in line. An official travelling with the aid convoy was heard to shout: “Be quiet! Order! Everyone will get their turn," to try to calm the commotion.

The bus, which had arrived packed with boxes containing rice and dried beans from the Turkish Red Crescent, was swamped by the crowd who held up identity cards as proof that they had registered for help.

Twenty-four hours after Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, flew into Georgia and demanded the immediate departure of Russian troops, they were on the move yesterday.

However, instead of retreating north into South Ossetia, where Moscow-backed separatists have been fighting to break away from Georgia, the Russians headed south towards the capital, Tbilisi. They came to a halt only 20 miles outside the city.

A convoy of two Russian tanks, several armoured personnel carriers mounted with heavy machineguns and Russian flags and a few trucks filled with troops took up positions along the main road from Tbilisi to Gori, Stalin’s home town near the South Ossetian border.

The incursion was the deepest into Georgia proper since hostilities began 10 days ago. The troops dug foxholes along a hill only 30 minutes’ drive from the capital, watched by heavily armed Georgian soldiers and police. Men from the rival camps who had been shelling one another a few days earlier suddenly found themselves too close for comfort.

At first, the soot-covered Russian soldiers sat idly on their vehicles, cradling AK47s under the heat of a searing sun. Then a Georgian soldier in US-issued camouflage walked up to them carrying his national flag. Within minutes the two sides were chatting and exchanging cigarettes and water.

“It’s beautiful here,” said one Russian officer as he stepped out of a jeep with tinted windows. “This is a place where one should come on holiday, not war.”

The bonhomie was misleading, however. Some of the Georgian soldiers were visibly stunned to see a foreign army so deep inside their country.

They seemed alarmed that Russian military operations still had not ended four days after President Dmitry Medvedev announced that he had halted them.

The previous day Rice had all but forced Mikhail Saakashvili, the Georgian president, to sign a ceasefire that sealed his defeat. Yesterday Medvedev added his signature.

The document, drafted under the supervision of President Nicolas Sarkozy of France and amended by the Kremlin, allows the Russian military to remain in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, the two breakaway regions that Saakashvili had vowed to return to Tbilisi’s control.

Even more damaging for the Georgian leader’s political prospects, it gives the Russians the right to remain several miles inside Georgian territory to await an international peace-keeping force - which could take weeks to assemble.

Since the defeated and demoralised Georgian army pulled out of South Ossetia last week, the Russians have secured or destroyed its military installations and arms dumps.

By yesterday afternoon they had moved back towards South Ossetia but were still positioned on the outskirts of Gori and in the Black Sea port of Poti, where they have blown up several Georgian coastguard vessels.

South Ossetian paramilitaries were also still active in the west of the country where they were reported to be looting Georgian villages. They have been accused of ethnic cleansing, of torching villages and, in several cases, of abducting young women.

The Kremlin gave its strongest signal yet that both South Ossetia and Abkhazia would be integrated into Russia. Saakashvili’s future as president seemed far less certain.

He was vilified by the Kremlin as a US stooge before hostilities broke out. The Russians are now bent on seeing him removed from power. Moscow has dispatched investigators from the prosecutor’s office to South Ossetia to gather testimony that it hopes to use in a criminal case against the president.

In Tbilisi many last week thought Saakashvili’s fate was already sealed. While he is credited with turning round Georgia’s economy and modernising the small state, he is expected to face a furious backlash over the failed military action.

Ukraine yesterday offered to create a joint missile defence network with the West amid fears that its port city of Sebastopol, home of the Russian Black Sea fleet, could become the next flashpoint between Russia and its former satellites. 

The Ukrainian offer, which means its early warning radar stations could become part of the West’s civil defence system, will further damage poor relations between Kiev and Moscow.

Ukraine, which to the fury of Russia is looking towards Europe and membership of Nato, announced last week that it would require the Russian fleet to seek permission whenever ships entered its territorial waters.

Viktor Yushchenko, Ukraine’s reformist president who visited the Georgian capital Tbilisi last week to support President Mikhail Saakashvili, said the use of Russian ships for a war violated Ukraine’s neutrality and risked drawing it into conflict.

He instructed his security council to draw up new rules forcing Russia to apply up to 10 days in advance for permission for its fleet to move in and out of Ukraine’s territorial waters.

This weekend Yushchenko said a threat to Georgia’s territorial integrity should be viewed as a potential threat to Ukraine’s: “We have lived through the most terrible 10 days of our recent history.”

The Russian response was immediate. Colonel-General Anatoly Nogovitsyn, deputy chief of the Russian general staff, who last week warned Poland that it could face a nuclear strike after signing a deal with the United States to place a missile shield on its soil, made a belligerent statement to Ukraine.

He said Russian ships would ignore the order to seek permission, which he claimed was “illegitimate”.

Vladimir Putin, the Russian prime minister, warned Yushchenko last February that Russia could point nuclear missiles at Ukraine if it cooperated with US missile defence plans.

Ukraine is insisting the Russian military must leave Sebastopol when the lease on the base expires in 2017. The Russian navy has made it clear it may refuse to do so.

Russia is considering arming its Baltic fleet with nuclear warheads for the first time since the cold war, senior military sources warned last night. 

The move, in response to American plans for a missile defence shield in Europe, would heighten tensions raised by the advance of Russian forces to within 20 miles of Tbilisi, the Georgian capital, yesterday.

Under the Russian plans, nuclear warheads could be supplied to submarines, cruisers and fighter bombers of the Baltic fleet based in Kaliningrad, a Russian enclave between the European Union countries of Poland and Lithuania. A senior military source in Moscow said the fleet had suffered from underfunding since the collapse of communism. “That will change now,” said the source. 

“In view of America’s determination to set up a missile defence shield in Europe, the military is reviewing all its plans to give Washington an adequate response.”

The proposal to bring back nuclear warheads was condemned by Kurt Volker, the US ambassador to Nato, who said he knew of the threat.

“It is really unfortunate that Russia chooses to react by putting nuclear warheads in different places – if indeed it does that – when the rest of the world is not looking at some kind of old-fashioned superpower conflict,” he said.

The warnings came 24 hours after Russia told Poland that it could face a nuclear strike for agreeing to let the United States station components of the missile defence shield on its soil.

The Russian military also said it would ignore attempts to restrict the movement of its Black Sea fleet in and out of Sebastopol, in Ukraine. The Crimean port was emerging as a potential flashpoint in Russia’s efforts to prevent former Soviet countries on its borders from joining Nato.

This weekend Ukraine further angered Russian officials by offering to create a joint missile defence network with western countries.

The Russians have already indicated that they may point nuclear missiles at western Europe from bases in Kaliningrad and Belarus. They are also said to be thinking of reviving a military presence in Cuba.

In Georgia, Russian forces extended their reach across the west of the country yesterday, occupying several towns, seizing control of a main road and blowing up a railway bridge. Working with Abkhazian fighters they seized several Georgian villages and the Enguri power station. They pulled out of Igoeti, a village near the capital, after President Dmitry Medvedev signed a ceasefire agreement. The deal gave the Russians the right to continue patrolling “a few miles” inside Georgia. President George W Bush called the signing a “hopeful step”.

David Cameron, the Conservative leader, seized the initiative with a lightning trip to Tbilisi, becoming the first British politician to meet President Mikhail Saakashvili since the conflict began. Critics have accused government ministers of dithering.

Writing in today’s Sunday Times, Cameron says: “Russian armies can’t march into other countries while Russian shoppers carry on marching into Selfridges.”