President Barack Obama’s decision to abandon US plans to site a missile defence shield in Europe may go some way to improving relations between America and Russia. But the risk to Thursday’s move is that it will further undermine the uneasy relationship between Washington and the nations of central and eastern Europe.

Although US officials argued on Thursday that the decision had been aimed at boosting national security – and was not part of some grand bargain with Russia – Washington will be keen to see how Russia responds to the abandonment of the missile shield in the next few weeks.