Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, recently surprised George W. Bush, his US counterpart, by proposing co-operation on missile defence. While Washington welcomed the move, however, experts question whether both sides can find common ground.

The US wants to place 10 missile interceptors in Poland and a powerful radar in the Czech Republic to protect the US and Europe from what it sees as future Iranian missile threats. Moscow argues that the shield appears to be aimed at Russia, since Iran is years away from developing missiles that could target the US.