Amerika wil militaire bases oprichten in voormalige Oostblok-landen (en)

US Secretary of State Colin Powell indicated yesterday that Washington is seeking to place military bases in certain countries in Eastern Europe belonging to the former Warsaw Pact.

Speaking to Russian radio after a visit to Moscow, Mr Powell said, "we may want to put some temporary facilities in some of the countries that used to be part of the Warsaw Pact".

No specific countries were mentioned but several former Warsaw Pact countries will be joining the EU in May.

Recognising that the news could spark old Cold War alarm bells in Moscow, Mr Powell emphasised, "but these would not be big bases of the kind we had in Germany during the days of the Cold War. These might be small places where we could go and train for a brief period of time or use air bases as access to get to dangerous places".

"But it is not essentially moving our army closer to the Russian Federation and people should not see it in that light ... we are not trying to surround anyone".

Other topics raised between the two former superpowers were the vexed issue of Chechnya and Russian President Vladimir Putin's handling of the opposition and the media.