"Blair suffers double rebuff as peace-maker," headlined The Independent.

"The message from Moscow. We are not with you and we don't believe you," read The Guardian's front page.

"New Cold War," was the message in the Daily Express. "From Russia with Scorn," said the Daily Mail.

Blair's lightning visit to Moscow Tuesday also saw him and Putin fail to bridge differences over weapons inspections in Iraq, which Russia believes must be carried out by the UN team headed by Hans Blix.

Putin noted with heavy sarcasm that "two weeks after the end of the conflict, no weapons have yet been found."

The left-of-centre Guardian described Putin's treatment of Blair as a "humiliating rebuff" and said the prime minister had been given a "public dressing down."

The right-wing press, meanwhile, lambasted the controversial defence summit between France, Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg -- which papers called a blow for Blair.

French President "Jacques Chirac pushes the tinpot army just so he can have another dig at America and Britain," said an editorial in The Sun -- Britain's biggest selling daily.

The Times said the summit "must count as either one of the most intellectually confused or instead politically dishonest meetings conducted by EU nations." It called the summit holders' plans "a divisive and unnecessary strategy for European defence."

Chirac, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and their partners from Belgium and Luxembourg said they did not want to undermine the US-European alliance or

But the Daily Mail said their plan "threatens an alliance that has been the bedrock of British security for more than half a century."

The proposals -- which went further than forecast by diplomats in the run-up to Tuesday's summit -- have the potential to provoke disquiet in Washington and London.

In particular, talk of a new "European Security and Defence Union"could be viewed with suspicion in other EU capitals.

The ESDU would "gather those member states that are ready to go faster and further in strengthening their defence cooperation," the four leaders said in a joint statement after two hours of talks.

British Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon warned the four summit countries against encroaching on NATO's turf.

"I stress the importance of the consistency about the harmony of EU and NATO defence, which must be a result of a consensus between all of the members and the new members of the EU," Hoon said Tuesday on a visit to Hungary.

Along with France, Britain is one of the EU's few military heavyweights, and observers say its armed forces must be at the heart of any credible European defence strategy.

SPACE.WIRE