The US and Russia are digging in for a fight over American plans for missile defence bases in eastern Europe in spite of efforts by both sides to create a positive atmosphere before next week’s summit between Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev.

A senior Russian official told the Financial Times on Thursday it was not enough for the US to say it was reviewing the missile defence project as the US president had already done. Washington had to go further and “show that it really can work together with Russia in the new [geopolitical] situation and the new threats we face”.