Russia is becoming increasingly authoritarian at home and aggressive abroad, says the US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice.
In a strongly-worded speech, Ms Rice said Moscow was on a "one way path to isolation and irrelevance".
Diplomatic relations between the US and Russia have been strained by the recent conflict in Georgia.
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Dmitri Medvedev said it would be "politically short-sighted" if the Washington and Moscow were to endanger their political and economic ties.
But Ms Rice suggested that following the conflict in Georgia, Russia's bid to join the World Trade Organisation had been put in doubt.
'Deeply disconcerting'
Speaking at an event organised by the German Marshall Fund in Washington, Ms Rice acknowledged that Georgia had fired the first shots in the breakaway region of South Ossetia.
"The Georgian government launched a major military operation into Tskhinvali [the capital of South Ossetia] and other areas of that separatist region," she said.
"Regrettably, several Russian peacekeepers were killed in the fighting," she added.
But Ms Rice said that Russia had escalated the conflict.
"Russia's leaders violated Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity - and launched a full-scale invasion across an internationally-recognised border," she said, adding that Russia had also violated the terms of a ceasefire negotiated by the French President, Nicolas Sarkozy.
Ms Rice said it had been "deeply disconcerting" that Russia had tried to "dismember" Georgia by recognising Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and argued that Russia's actions were part of what she described as a "worsening pattern of behaviour".
"I refer...to Russia's intimidation of its sovereign neighbours, its use of oil and gas as a political weapon...its threat to target peaceful neighbours with nuclear weapons...and its persecution - or worse - of Russian journalists and dissidents," she added.
'Taking the bait'
Ms Rice admitted that Georgia could have responded better to the events last month in South Ossetia.
"We warned our Georgian friends that Russia was baiting them, and that taking this bait would only play into Moscow's hands," she said.
However Ms Rice, an expert on the Soviet Union, also said that Russia could not blame its behaviour on the enlargement of Nato.
"Since the end of the Cold War we and our allies have worked to transform Nato... into a means for nurturing the growth of a Europe whole, free and at peace."
The promise of Nato membership had been a positive incentive for states to build democratic institutions and reform their economies, she added.
And she insisted that Russia would not be allowed to dictate who joined the Nato alliance.
"We will not allow Russia to wield a veto over the future of our Euro-Atlantic community - neither what states we offer membership, nor the choice of those states to accept it," she said
"We have made this particularly clear to our friends in Ukraine."
The secretary of state was also critical of the domestic situation inside Russia itself.
"What has become clear is that the legitimate goal of rebuilding Russia has taken a dark turn - with the rollback of personal freedoms, the arbitrary enforcement of the law (and) the pervasive corruption at various levels of Russian society," she said.
Russia's leaders were risking the future progress of the Russian people, she said, declaring that Russia's leaders "are putting Russia on a one-way path to self-imposed isolation and international irrelevance."
(BBC)
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