Relations between the two have nosedived since a ceasefire they agreed to in September fell apart in less than a week, and Washington on Friday accused Damascus and Moscow of staging “war crimes” in Aleppo. At least 250,000 people are living under siege in rebel-held east Aleppo, and facing almost-daily heavy bombing since the Russian-backed Syrian army launched an offensive to retake the city last month.

   “It’s a fallacy to think that this is like the Cold War. The current times are different and more dangerous,” Steinmeier told the mass-circulation Bild newspaper. Wolfgang Ischinger, who served as OSCE mediator for Ukraine, told the newspaper that there was “considerable danger of a military confrontation. “This danger has not been as strong in decades and the confidence between West and East has never been so low,” he said.