Nato united in the face of Russia’s failure to withdraw from Georgia yesterday, freezing regular contacts with Moscow and declaring that there could be “no business as usual under present circumstances”.

However, there will be no Nato troops rushing to Tbilisi to put military muscle behind the tough statement, which was issued at an emergency meeting of the 26 foreign ministers of the alliance in Brussels. Military assistance will be restricted to training exercises and talks about prospective membership of the alliance.