But Mr Putin, by his own admission in a combative mood, said it was clear that the Pentagon had Russia rather than Iran in mind, and the trajectory and range of Teheran's missiles meant that the positioning of the shield did not make sense.

In comments echoing the rhetoric of an earlier age, Mr Putin said that Russia would develop a new generation of inter-continental missiles capable of breaching the defensive shield Washington plans to build in Poland and the Czech republic. "We will develop new generation systems which will be immune to the anti-missile defence systems currently being planned. They will be simply powerless."

Russia is already in the process of developing a "hyper-sound, high precision" missile capable of adjusting altitude and course as they travel and strike targets within the United States.