A “LOBSTER SUMMIT” that opens today between President George W Bush and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin is expected to be marred by sharp disagreements over independence for Kosovo and American plans to station a missile defence shield in central Europe.

The presence of the American president’s father, George Bush Sr, at the family compound in Kennebunkport, Maine, is intended to foster a convivial atmosphere.

“It is going to be the sweet adieu of two presidents who are preparing for their departure from office,” said Ariel Cohen, a Russian expert at the conservative Heritage Foundation in Washington. “The two sides need to make up their mind about whether the world is better off with the Russians and Americans bickering all the time.”

Behind the bonhomie, relations between Russia and America are approaching a post-cold-war freezing point. Putin is seeking to reassert Russian influence in its traditional backyard by stalling the United Nations security council’s efforts to let Kosovo break away formally from Serbia.

Opponents of Kosovan independence claim it cannot be in America’s interest to allow the “soft underbelly” of a Muslim state, ethnically cleansed of Serbs and open to penetration by Islamic extremists, to emerge in the Balkans. But America sees its support for Kosovo as an opportunity to prove its credentials in the Muslim world.

Tom Lantos, chairman of the house foreign affairs committee, said it was a “reminder to the predominantly Muslim-led governments of this world that here is yet another example that the United States leads the way for the creation of a predominantly Muslim country in the very heart of Europe”.

Russian energy wealth has not only given Putin new sway over his neighbours, but also at the UN, where European nations are tempted to recognise Kosovo unilaterally but are nervous about defying Russia. “I wouldn’t say it was game, set and match to the Russians but it is game and set,” said a Western diplomat.

Carlos Pascal, a Russian expert at the Brookings Institution in Washington, said: “The Russians are using the dispute over Kosovo as leverage to get others to agree that referendums should be allowed in South Ossetia and Abkhazia over independence from Georgia.”

Last month Putin accused America of double standards. “We have not used nuclear weapons against a civilian population. We have not sprayed thousands of kilometres with chemicals or dropped seven times more bombs on a small country [Vietnam] than in the great patriotic war [the second world war],” he said.

Tensions remain high between Washington and Moscow over the deployment of missile defences in Poland and the Czech Republic. Putin made a surprise offer at the recent G8 summit to share a giant Soviet-era radar in Azerbaijan in place of the US shield.

The formation of a joint working party to explore Putin’s proposal is designed to kick the plans into the long grass, according to a US defence source. “We’re going to study it into oblivion. We’re not going to rest the safety of America, the West and Israel over something the Russians can turn on and off.”

The Russians regard America’s decision to press ahead with the European missile shield as a rejection of the Azeri offer. Putin believes the new defences are aimed at Russia, not at rogue states such as Iran and North Korea, as the Americans claim.

“This is a litmus test,” said General Yuri Baluyevsky, chief of the Russian general staff. “The entire world will see the true aim of this system.”

Russian military experts acknowledge that the Azeri radar will be of little practical use to America as it is too antiquated to be capable of guiding antimissiles. It is also within reach of Iranian short-range missiles and could easily be destroyed should Tehran launch an attack on the West.

“Putin’s offer may sound good politically, which is why he made it, but from a military and technical point of view it’s pure nonsense,” said Pavel Felgengauer, a Russian military expert.

In the unlikely event of an agreement over Azerbaijan, America would still need to position a radar station in the Czech Republic and missile interceptors in Poland.

In theory, however, the sites could complement each other. “The Azeri location would be aimed at intercepting the ‘boost phase’ of missiles while central Europe would involve a mid-flight interception,” Cohen said.

Putin could threaten to supply nuclear fuel to Iran if America refuses to respond to its concerns about the shield, according to sources close to the Russian foreign ministry. Iran has nearly completed its first nuclear power station at Bushehr and is waiting for Moscow to ship more than 100 tons of fuel so that it can become operational.

“Trying to stop the Americans from going ahead with their plans is pretty difficult but the one card Russia has is its relationship with Iran,” a former Russian diplomat said. “Washington dreads the day when we start to supply the Iranians with fuel to kickstart Bushehr.”

A western diplomat in Moscow said: “Russia may no longer be a superpower but it’s certainly in a position to make life more difficult for the US and the West as a whole. The Maine summit isn’t going to change that.”

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