Russia will pay for its invasion warns Miliband

Mr Miliband, on a trip to Kiev to support the pro-Western government of Ukraine, lambasted Moscow's decision to send tanks into Georgia.

He said that Russia's stock market would suffer and trade with Europe would be hit if the Kremlin continued to defy international opinion and threaten other former Soviet states.

Standing alongside Ukrainian president Viktor Yushchenko, Mr Miliband declared that Britain would support both Ukraine and Georgia's bids to join Nato and warned that Russia could not veto such moves.

Pointing out just how dependent on EU customers Russia's gas firms were, he added that the Kremlin now had a "big responsibility" not to start a new Cold War.

Mr Miliband also reminded Russia of the "man-made" tragedy in which millions of Ukrainians died during famines caused by Stalin in the Thirties.

Tensions were high in the region today after Russian forces prevented the US navy from delivering humanitarian supplies to the Georgian port of Poti. Tblisi retaliated by withdrawing almost all its diplomats from Moscow.

Russia's decision yesterday to unilaterally recognise the independence of the Georgian breakaway areas of South Ossetia and Abkhazia prompted Nato today to demand that it reverse its decision.

But Russia's president Dmitri Medvedev said he was determined to act in the interest of Russian citizens living in neighbouring states, adding: "We are not afraid of anything, including the prospect of a new Cold War."

Mr Yushchenko warned that Russia's decision to recognise the Georgian regions threatened security in the whole of the former Soviet Union.

He said his own country was a "hostage" in Russia's war on its neighbour. He also warned that he would review the lease on Russia's base in Sevastopol for its Black Sea fleet. Under a 1997 pact, Russia leases the base until 2017 for an annual fee of £45 million.

Mr Miliband said Britain would never forget the 3.5million people who died when Stalin forced starvation on the Ukrainian people in a bid to quash its nationalism.

He said: "My visit is designed to send a simple message: we have not forgotten our commitments to you. Nor shall we do so. The Russian president says he is not afraid of a new Cold War. We don't want one. He has a big responsibility not to start one."

He added that Russia's population is falling by 800,000 a year, with underinvestment and inequality rampant. "Even in the energy field, Europeans need Russian gas, but Gazprom needs European consumers and investment," he said.

Mr Miliband said Russia's move was "unjustifiable and unacceptable" and he called for "the widest possible coalition against Russian aggression".

He was backed by US President George Bush and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who condemned Russia's decision as "absolutely not acceptable" but said Europe must keep open channels of communication with Moscow.

Mr Medvedev has warned that he was considering halting co-operation with Nato altogether.

Yesterday Russia cancelled a visit by Nato's secretary-general, and it has accused the alliance of bolstering its military presence in the Black Sea.

A US Navy coastguard cutter carrying humanitarian aid docked in the port of Batumi today. It was bound for Poti but is blockaded by Russian troops.

Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev today likened the Georgian conflict to the Cuban missile crisis of 1962 and urged political leaders in the Kremlin and the West to use diplomacy and resist "warmongers".

Georgian pre s ident Mikhail Saakashvili said the Russian action was the first time since Nazi Germany and Stalin's Russia that there had been an attempt to alter Europe's borders by force.