Nato offers to include Russia in defence planning

Move comes within 24 hours of White House saying it was scrapping proposed missile shield facilities in Poland and Czech Republic

Nato today offered to include Moscow in its defence planning, announcing that missile shields being developed in the US and Europe could be integrated with Russian systems.

The military alliance's overture to the Kremlin came within 24 hours of the White House announcing that it was scrapping the Pentagon's divisive proposed missile shield facilities in Poland and the Czech Republic.

In his first major speech since taking over as the Nato secretary-general last month, the former Danish prime minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen also urged the alliance and Russia to conduct an unprecedented joint assessment of the major security challenges facing the world.

He said his aim was eventually to see the US, the European Nato allies and the Russians "plugging in to" integrated missile defence systems to counter the perceived danger of rocket attacks from countries such as Iran.

"Our nations, and our forces deployed in theatre, will all become increasingly vulnerable to missile attacks by third parties," Rasmussen said in a speech in Brussels.

"We should explore the potential for linking the US, Nato and Russia missile defence systems at an appropriate time ... both Nato and Russia have a wealth of experience in missile defence.

"We should now work to combine this experience to our mutual benefit."

Rasmussen admitted he did not possess the technical and military knowhow for such integration, but added: "The most important thing right now is to give the political signal."

His speech was devoted entirely to relations between Russia and the west, calling for a new beginning following a year of tension that followed last summer's war between Russia and Georgia.

The initiative seemed to have been squared with Washington and the speech reflected strongly what diplomats are describing as the "new realism" of Barack Obama's foreign policy.

The Russian prime minister, Vladimir Putin, an implacable opponent of the central European missile shield, praised the US decision to drop the European shield as "correct and bold".

"The latest decision by President Obama has positive implications," Putin said.

Dmitri Trenin, the head of the Carnegie Endowment thinktank in Moscow and a leading Russian security and foreign policy analyst, said the White House decision to cancel the European missile shield projects could usher in a new era of Russian co-operation with the west.

"It is not a concession to Russia, but it's a big gesture," he said. "It's the first concrete thing, the start of a real shift in US foreign policy.

"This could lead to real cooperation with Russia."

Diplomats and Nato officials warned that the offer to develop integrated missile defences could still fall victim to arguments over Iran, which could be the principal target of any such missile shield.

"The Russians have very good relations with Iran and see no missile threat from Iran," an official said.

In echoing the White House rhetoric about "pressing the reset button" on relations with Russia, Rasmussen went further than the US by calling for Nato and Russia to conduct a joint threat assessment of the big global security challenges.

"I propose that we undertake a joint review of Nato's and Russia's common threats and challenges," he said.

"We need an agreed analytical basis which we can then use to further enhance our practical cooperation."

This offer is believed to have the backing of the US and the Germans, but the British and Canadians have reservations and central Europeans could also object.

Diplomats said British officials asked Rasmussen to drop this part of his speech earlier this week, but the Dane refused.

Moscow responded to the conciliatory moves by signalling the cancellation of threats to deploy short-range missiles in its Kaliningrad exclave, which sits within the EU.

Medvedev warned last autumn that the Kremlin was ready to site missiles in the small Baltic Sea territory, next to Poland and Lithuania, if the US went ahead with the Polish and Czech installations.

"A planned set of measures that could have been taken in response will be frozen and could be cancelled fully in the future," the Interfax news agency reported a Russian government source as saying.