DICK CHENEY, the US Vice-President, accused Russia yesterday of eroding a decade of democratic reform and blackmailing Europe with its energy reserves, in America’s sharpest rebuke to President Putin.

Speaking at a summit of eight former Eastern bloc countries that have turned against Moscow, Mr Cheney said that the Kremlin should embrace democracy or risk harming relations with more countries.

“America and Europe want to see Russia in the category of healthy democracies, and yet opponents of democracy in Russia are seeking to reverse the progress of the past decade,” he said. “In many areas of civil society — from religion and the news media to advocacy groups and political parties — the Government has unfairly and improperly restricted the rights of the people.”

The speech caused outrage in Russia, with some senior figures accusing Mr Cheney of trying to undermine Mr Putin before the G8 summit in St Petersburg in July. Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin’s deputy spokesman, said that the speech was incomprehensible and “full of a subjective evaluation of us and of the processes that are going on in Russia”.

Mikhail Gorbachev, the former leader of the Soviet Union, said: “Cheney’s speech looks like a provocation and interference in Russia’s internal affairs in terms of its content, form and place.”

Mr Cheney was addressing leaders of Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine and Georgia — all former Warsaw Pact countries that are at varying stages of integration with the EU and Nato. He voiced particular support for Ukraine, criticising Russia for cutting off gas supplies to Kiev in January in what was widely seen in the West as punishment for the Orange Revolution of 2004.

“No legitimate interest is served when oil and gas become tools of intimidation or blackmail, either by supply manipulation or attempts to monopolise transportation,” he said. His comments reflect the growing tensions between the White House and the Kremlin. With his own ratings low, President Bush is under pressure to take a harder line with Mr Putin, who has reasserted central control over media, parliament, business and regional government since 2000. Some US politicians are even calling for Russia’s expulsion from the G8.

Mr Cheney’s remarks will infuriate the Kremlin just when the US needs Russia’s support against Iran.

Vyacheslav Nikonov, of the Politika Fund think-tank, told The Times that Mr Cheney’s speech could lead Gazprom, the Russian gas monopoly, to reject Chevron and Conoco-Phillips, the US oil companies, when it chooses partners to develop the huge Shtokman gasfield. “There’ll be a tough reaction,” he said. “If you enter the path of escalation, it can lead any place, even to a new Cold War.”

Times Recommends

• How the fall of the Wall freed Nelson Mandela
• Iguacu, the world’s most spectacular waterfall
• How Harrods helped Burmese cats return