Russia put the West on alert for a new Cold War that the Kremlin is ready to fight, its President said yesterday.

President Medvedev set tensions soaring when he recognised the independence of two breakaway republics inside Georgia. “We are not afraid of anything, including the prospect of a Cold War,” he said. Hours earlier he had ordered his Foreign Ministry to start establishing diplomatic ties with the secessionist regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

The move brought instant condemnation from the United States, Britain, France, Germany and other Western countries. President Bush appealed to the Kremlin to “reconsider this irresponsible decision”. David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, said that it was “unjustifiable and unacceptable”.

Mr Medvedev, whose troops still occupy positions in Georgia, including in the vital Black Sea port of Poti, said that he did not want a return to the Cold War, but that “everything depends on the position of our partners”.

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The sense of a stand-off deepened when US officials reversed a statement that American warships would be delivering humanitarian aid to Poti. A US diplomat in Tbilisi had announced that two guided missile warships would be docking at the port despite the Russian military presence. Mr Medvedev accused the Americans of trying to smuggle weapons to the Georgians.

President Saakashvili of Georgia declared that Russia’s backing for the separatists was illegal, and accused it of looking for any excuse to provoke Georgia and allow Russia’s military machine to roll back into his country.

He said that Russian forces were building up in Akhalgori in South Ossetia, 20 miles (30km) north of Tbilisi. Remnants of Georgia’s security forces were guarding makeshift checkpoints on the road to Akhalgori, and South Ossetian paramilitaries refused entry to all but local residents, a mixture of South Ossetians and Georgians.

Later, a Russian army helicopter swooped over the Georgian forces and ordered them to withdraw. The Georgians, under orders from their President not to ignite a new war, complied.

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