Russia: You must treat us with respect

Ambassador Yury Fedotov said the West must begin dealing with Russia as an equal partner and attacked American plans for a new missile defence system.

"We need to be partners, but this should not be the partnership of a horseman with a horse," he said.

"The partnership should be equal - and if we have some concerns, the West should pay attention."

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Relations between the Kremlin and Britain appear to be at their lowest ebb since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

In recent months, there has been renewed diplomatic tension over a range of issues including the murder in London of former spy Alexander Litvinenko and Iran's nuclear programme.

Last week, in the latest round of sabre-rattling, it emerged that RAF jets had to be scrambled for the first time in years to intercept Russian nuclear bombers over the North Sea, which were approaching British airspace.

The number of incidents in which Russia's submarines have been found close to British shores or in contact with Royal Navy warships has also risen.

Russian president Vladimir Putin has also caused alarm by announcing he intends to open a naval base on the Mediterranean - rumoured to be in Syria - for the first time since the Cold War.

But Mr Fedotov dismissed suggestions that the resumption of long-range bomber patrols by the Russian air force marked a return to the days of the Cold War.

Instead, he insisted they are entirely appropriate for one of the world's biggest nuclear powers, claiming the patrols had been dropped in the 1990s only because Russia could not afford to keep them.

"Then, simply, we didn't have the capacity to maintain these flights," he said.

"It is an expensive matter."

"I don't think Britain has to be worried about it. I don't think the world has to be worried about it. It is a routine thing, but it is necessary to maintain the status of a nuclear power.

"There may be some rhetorics and some emotions, but it is clear we are not in the Cold War. The situation is completely different. There is no ideological difference between Russia and the West."

But he said the West needs to heed Russian concerns - most notably over plans to locate a new missile defence system in the former Soviet Bloc states of Poland and the Czech Republic.

He made it clear that Russia does not accept U.S. assurances that its missile defence system is not aimed at Moscow's ballistic missile arsenal and is intended only to counter the threat of attack by a rogue state.

There was "no reasonable explanation" for sitting missiles and radar in eastern Europe which, he warned, would upset the strategic balance in the region.

"Ultimately it is a threat. In the logic of military strategical thinking, those who have a more reliable shield have more incentives to use the sword," he added.

Mr Fedotov also sought to play down the row over the murder of Mr Litvinenko, which he claimed had become "over-politicised".

Britain responded to Russia's refusal to extradite chief suspect Andrei Lugovoy to stand trial in Britain by expelling four diplomats.

The move prompted Russia to eject four from the British Embassy in Moscow.

Shadow foreign minister Keith Simpson said: 'Russia is telling Britain and the West that she is no longer the broken state she was 15 years ago.

"They see they have a window of opportunity while America and Britain are locked into wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"But I see this not really as a sign of strength, but of weakness. Russia sees herself surrounded by former enemies and is suffering from paranoia. Their armed forces, though Putin is spending money on them, are in a very sorry state.

"We actually need to be cool, calm and collected about the noises Russia is making."