George W. Bush’s tense relationship with Moscow will be tested by his forthcoming visits to the Czech Republic and Poland, where a proposed US missile defence shield is seen mainly as a political defence against a potentially revanchist Russia.

The US president arrives in Prague on Monday and is due to make a short stop in Jurata, a resort town on Poland’s Baltic coast, on Friday as part of a central European tour tied to his attendance at the G8 summit in Germany.