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© UnknownGeneral Nikolai Makarov
A chilling warning of nuclear war erupting along Russia's borders - including in Europe - came today from the Kremlin's top military commander. General Nikolai Makarov said there could be a string of small-scale conflicts breaking out in the country. He said: 'The possibility of local armed conflicts along nearly the whole border has increased dramatically.

'In certain conditions, I do not rule out local and regional armed conflicts developing into a large-scale war, including using nuclear weapons.'

Makarov's explosive words - sounding like an icy blast from the depths of the Cold War - will cause dismay and alarm in eastern Europe. He linked the risk to former Warsaw Pact countries that have already joined NATO - and those which have expressed a willingness to join. He complained: 'Practically all the countries of the former Warsaw Pact have become NATO members. The Baltic states that were part of the former Soviet Union have also joined the North Atlantic Alliance.'

Yet this year marks two decades of peace between Russia and its former Warsaw pact allies in eastern Europe since the collapse of the USSR, and it was not immediately clear why the Kremlin's top military figure had chosen such lurid language to characterise Moscow's relations with its neighbours.

The three Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania - which he picked out in a major speech - are minnows and do not appear to present any risk whatsoever to Moscow.

Yet Russia is at odds with the U.S. over the American missile defence shield in Europe.'The European missile shield problem is quite serious today,' Makarov warned.

Russia still has deeply strained relations with Georgia - homeland of former Kremlin leader Josef Stalin - after a 2008 war over two disputed provinces, and the country is seeking NATO membership. Yet the country has no nuclear weapons and on its own poses slender military threat to Russia, even if this is where a conflict could most easily turn to war.

Another neighbour, Ukraine, at one pointed sought to angle its future towards the West, but it is now ruled by a pro-Moscow president, and its liberal opposition leader languishes in jail.

Russia shares significant borders with North Korea, China, Mongolia and Kazakhstan, but enjoys friendly relations with all three.

General Makarov, 62, was a former platoon commander for the Red Army in East Germany and has served in many posts in strategically sensitive areas for Moscow.

In Soviet times, he served with Soviet forces in Siberia, and after the fall of the Red flag was chief of staff of a Russian forces in Tajikistan.

A military high-flyer whose career was boosted by strongman leader Vladimir Putin, he was land and seashore commander of the Baltic Fleet, and subsequently first deputy commander, Moscow Military District.

He has been Russian chief of defence staff since 2008, and also serves as a deputy defence minister.

His strong words yesterday come ahead of political changes in Russia which are likely to see Putin return to the Kremlin as president, and the current head of state Dmitry Medvedev take the number two role as prime minister.